If you are a channel surfer or political junkie you know that there was a sea of change in the difference between the coverage of last week's Democratic Convention and the GOP fest that ended last night.
No it is not that last week's was full of drama awaiting what former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would do in Denver versus coverage of Hurricane Gustav this week.
It looks as if both the political and natural storms were much lower in velocity than first expected. It is not that you saw a sea of different faces and, for that matter, dress, less than homogenous in Denver compared to the suits, topped off with baseball caps or Stetsons that permeated Minnesota. Nor is it that last week the focus was on how long the vice presidential nominee would talk compared to what other shoes are yet to drop regarding the Republican vice presidential candidate.
No, the tone that was different came from MSNBC's coverage that turned from last week's brawling commentators to this week's effort to separate them from each other by geography. It seemed no secret that the network's hosts, former presidential speech writer Chris Matthews and former ESPN commentator Keith Olbermann don't enjoy each other's company.
Apparently the network honchos noticed the problem. In the case of the sparing of Matthews/Olbermann, they seemed to have decided to separate them by a couple of states with the intense Matthews on site in St. Paul and the quip-filled Olbermann at his usual post in New York. In fact it seemed they were acting, as far as their on air time was concerned, as overtly civil.
Oh for the days of the late Tim Russert. The Wall Street Journal aptly wrote last week in a news story that his loss “... removed a political and temperamental rudder for the network.”
How true. Gone are the white wipe boards with magic markers, replaced by talking heads that seem to want to raise the volume level not that of the discourse and discussion.
But then again, should we expect anything else from the networks that reward with air time the outbursts, jibes and quips of those they cover? In their new book “Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Politics,” authors John Harwood and Gerald Seib quote Cokie Roberts, the former ABC talking head and NPR reporter, who quips, “microphones go to the loudest, the most outrageous voice. The boring guy in the middle hardly merits air time or print inches.”
Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com
It looks as if both the political and natural storms were much lower in velocity than first expected. It is not that you saw a sea of different faces and, for that matter, dress, less than homogenous in Denver compared to the suits, topped off with baseball caps or Stetsons that permeated Minnesota. Nor is it that last week the focus was on how long the vice presidential nominee would talk compared to what other shoes are yet to drop regarding the Republican vice presidential candidate.
No, the tone that was different came from MSNBC's coverage that turned from last week's brawling commentators to this week's effort to separate them from each other by geography. It seemed no secret that the network's hosts, former presidential speech writer Chris Matthews and former ESPN commentator Keith Olbermann don't enjoy each other's company.
Apparently the network honchos noticed the problem. In the case of the sparing of Matthews/Olbermann, they seemed to have decided to separate them by a couple of states with the intense Matthews on site in St. Paul and the quip-filled Olbermann at his usual post in New York. In fact it seemed they were acting, as far as their on air time was concerned, as overtly civil.
Oh for the days of the late Tim Russert. The Wall Street Journal aptly wrote last week in a news story that his loss “... removed a political and temperamental rudder for the network.”
How true. Gone are the white wipe boards with magic markers, replaced by talking heads that seem to want to raise the volume level not that of the discourse and discussion.
But then again, should we expect anything else from the networks that reward with air time the outbursts, jibes and quips of those they cover? In their new book “Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Politics,” authors John Harwood and Gerald Seib quote Cokie Roberts, the former ABC talking head and NPR reporter, who quips, “microphones go to the loudest, the most outrageous voice. The boring guy in the middle hardly merits air time or print inches.”
Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com
The Citizens' Say
There are 1 comment(s)
AJ wrote on Sep 5, 2008 7:57 PM:
Regarding Russert - a rudder indeed - steering mostly softball questions (like Matthews) to some of the worst criminals in government, ignoring their most grievous offenses, and /or failed to ask important follow-up questions, especially where foreign policy and war is concerned. Russert steered some of the most important issues right down into the memory hole by ignoring the history behind them and giving the perps a free pass.
Now Dennis Kucinich, that's another matter. Gotta find out if he's ever seen a UFO!! Important stuff that is. "