Tom Paine, but no pajamas

Townhall.com ^ | December 3, 2004 | Suzanne Fields

[7thson]

Tom Brokaw, like a good wine, aged nicely, and he still has the boyish looks easy on female eyes. Brian Williams, even easier on the eyes, will continue in that tradition at NBC. The reporting, however, is of diminishing importance.

...CBS could choose a not-so-pretty face, like Tim Russert of "Meet the Press," who may be the best in the television business for asking tough questions.

[7thson]

I thought this an interesting piece which once again gave rise in me a question I have been asking myself for some time. The question - am I - and the rest of the Freepers - missing something. We watch these guys and gals over the years - Dan Rather, Tim Russert, Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, Sam Donaldson, Mo Dowd, et al - and most of come away with two impressions. They are liberal and if not as dumb as rocks certainly extremely ignorant of ordinary and everyday Americans and their lives.

Yet - like Suzanne does with Russert above - they all heap praise on one another. During the past several months I have only heard one person - an older woman that is on FNC at times that use to work at CBS - lather Rather with disdain. Russert - we have seen over the years - has hard questions for conservatives yet licks the boots and crusty pants suits of liberals. Yet, is that are perception because of our bias? I consider the news readers to be about as dumb as rocks when you get them off the written script. Yet, these conservative columnists always tend to heap praise upon them. So, my question again, are we missing something?

[nothingnew]

No.

FMCDH(BITS)

[megatherium]

Here's a clue: Whenever Meet the Press or similar shows are going to cover issues concerning morality, they often invite Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson. These gentlemen have long since ceased being the opinion leaders in the evangelical community. Either Russert and colleagues are not very knowledgeable concerning the evangelical community -- or they want the viewer to equate evangelical Christianity with these widely-despised self-promoters.

[RebelBanker]

That title conjures up a variety of mental images, some good but most very frightening. I have absolutely no desire to see 90%+ of newsreaders without their pajamas...

As has been pointed out quite often, the news business tends to be very "clubby" and most of the talking heads will defend one of their own who is criticized by an outsider. If they decide to push someone out of the club, they will all attack that person. Otherwise the instinctive response is to revile anyone who has the unmitigated gall to dare challenge the great wisdom and impartiality [snicker...] of a media giant.