All Smart People Are Centrists--and Other News From PBS
03/18/2010 by Julie HollarBroadcasting & Cable (3/17/10) spoke with the head of PBS's flagship New York station about the recent hire of Newsweek editor Jon Meacham and former MTV and NPR host Alison Stewart for PBS's forthcoming program Need to Know, which is replacing Now and the Bill Moyers Journal:
WNET.org president Neal Shapiro did not rule out the possibility of future synergies between Newsweek and Need to Know.
"We haven't talked about anything specific," he said. "But I think all kinds of natural synergies may happen."
Shapiro said he is not concerned that Stewart and Meacham, who has been a frequent guest on Charlie Rose as well as MSNBC's Morning Joe, will bring ideological baggage to the program.
"They are both are incredibly smart. And I think, given their intellect, neither are people you can pigeonhole left or right. I think they have a history of asking probing questions on all sides."
"Given their intellect" they can't be placed on the left or the right? Yeah, smart people are all centrists, I guess. And by "probing," Shapiro must mean something like treating sources with "charity and dignity and respect."
I'm also looking forward to public television giving us Newsweek synergies. It's hard to think of a better use of PBS resources than providing another platform for commercial journalism. Maybe if we're really lucky we'll get some Mac Margolis on Need to Know.
Tags: Jon Meacham, PBS
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March 19th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
It's maddening that Bill Moyers Journal has been cancelled. That program is the best that TV journalism has to offer. It's all downhill from here.
March 19th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
My e-mail obviously had no effect on PBS. But things have been going downhill in public media for some time and it really is no more objective than any other media organization. For me, the epiphany came when Terry Gross defended the objectivity of her program "Fresh Air" by stating that for she actually interviewed 3 conservative politicians for every 2 liberals she talked to.
March 19th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Moyers and whats left of Mystery are the only things I watch on PBS. I stopped watching the "intellectual" portion of their programming two years ago. Only the BBC are close to accurate reporting, I trust NO American news casters available on my telly.
PBS, lazy and partisan.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Arch-conservative pundits will always seek to control the debate, even if it means repeating fabrications, lies, and half-truths, and being plain deceptive. They have declared war on America, and organizations such as FAIR are essential to counter the lies motivated by greed and power. Americans have a lot to lose, and we all need to do more to protect our way of life.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
I'm a retired PBS station staffer and a longtime media researcher and writer.
Does Mary Ann above understand that Bill Moyers Journal will be "cancelled" only because Bill has decided to retire?
Does George E. Mills above understand that the Fresh Air radio show is not distributed by PBS?
Does phillipdeem above understand that PBS consists of the national headquarters and 355 locally governed and operated non-profit stations, each of which airs a wide range of PBS, non-PBS and station-produced programs; and that one cannot make a credible claim like "PBS, lazy and partisan" until those terms are clearly defined and a representative sample of that vast pool of programming is actually reviewed and scored?
And does Julies Hollar understand that per federal law PBS cannot produce programs, that Need to Know will be produced by WNET and its associates, and that the credits for each episode will include the standard disclaimer, "The producer is solely responsible for the contents."? Regarding those contents , although I'm troubled by Meacham's selection as a co-host, I'll appropriately decide whether Need to Know is "another platform for commercial journalism (whatever that means)" after I've carefully reviewed its episodes over a period of time.
Regards to all.
March 19th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
& do none of the above understand that if we are not very, very careful, we might lose the funding of Mobil, et.al.?
March 19th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
The last word on this must come from Jim Hightower, or rather, from the title of a book of his: There's Nothing In The Middle Of The Road But Yellow Lines And Dead Armadillos.
March 19th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
I guess I don't understand why Bill Moyers' retirement necessitated the cancellation of Now. Why couldn't the show have gone on with another host?
March 19th, 2010 at 11:22 pm
Personally, I think Rachel Maddow would be an excellent replacement for Bill Moyers.
March 19th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
First of all Now already has a host that replaced Moyers several years ago. It would have been interesting to have had Gore Vidal as host or someone else instead of cancelling it. Jim Hightower too would be a good choice. But then PBS has always had a right wing bend with all that corporate money controlling the content and all. It was incredible that Moyers even got on. Well my time will be freed up now in that time slot.
March 20th, 2010 at 1:52 am
Richard Lee Dechert says, "And does Julies Hollar understand that per federal law PBS cannot produce programs, that Need to Know will be produced by WNET and its associates"
And "WNET and its associates" are in what network?? Do you understand that having an individual station be the producer for accounting purposes doesn't absolve PBS of its programming choices? The decision to no longer balance conservative programming w/ reality-based liberal analysis was PBS's. They decided no longer to provide NOW to their stations forcing its cancellation, and they decided not to ask the producers of Bill Moyers Journal to continue the show with a replacement journalist with views and integrity similar to Mr. Moyers. (Btw, since we seem to be dreaming about the ideal replacement host, I'd like Glenn Greenwald.)
The dripping condescension of your comment was uncalled for.
March 20th, 2010 at 7:39 am
Sadly, my experience of media and tragically, PBS's decline over the past decade won't have me sitting on the edge of my couch for 6 weeks trying to ascertain if Meecham is as bad as I know he's going to be. Unless he has a philosophical and personality transplant, I think I'm far better off avoiding the aggravation. The last thing I need while mourning the absence of a journalist of Moyers' skill and temperament is to get a big ol' dose of Meecham's condescending "I'LL tell you how it is!" If it means shutting off the TV at 9 pm on Fridays that's what it will be.
I'm in NE, a very conservative state. I've wondered if PBS stations all over were changing the way ours appears to have changed. Just as CNN has gone more conservative, so it would appear, has our local and national PBS. The majority of programming seems to rely obsessively on things like bad Irish singers and Andre's magical 1,001 violins, and the ever popular Gaithers. Way less smart, and heavy on the senior conservative. What I used to frequent, I rarely bother to look at except for Moyers and Frontline. PBS would appear to be responding to conservative outrage that any possible progressive voice be heard and practically speaking they seem to be following the money…senior $$$'s.
March 20th, 2010 at 10:21 am
THANK-YOU PAM…I AGREE. I HAVE STOPPED WATCHING AND LISTENING TO MY 'SO-CALLED' PUBLIC BROADCASTING STATIONS TO THE DEGREE I USED TO DO. I CHOOSE TO TURN OFF "ALL THINGS CONSIDERED" ON RADIO AND TUNE-IN ON "FAIR" AND "DEMOCRACY NOW" INSTEAD; I TURN OFF WASHINGTON WEEK AND TURN ON BBC NEWS. I ALSO WILL NOTE THAT LOCAL PROGRAMS STILL SHOW A VOICE FOR THE 'OTHER' AT TIMES AND, AT LEAST, GIVE POINTS OF VIEW NOT EXPRESSED BY MAINSTREAM MEDIA.
AS AN ASIDE, I FEEL LIKE ALL THE BULLIES ARE BEING CAJOLED AND THE QUIET THINKERS ARE PUSHED OUT FROM THE DEBATE….IF YOU SCREAM LOUD AND LONG ENOUGH …….
March 20th, 2010 at 10:48 am
Speaking of PBS, I am leading the NPR music challenge. FAIR don't forget arts matter. And fairness in arts reviews and fairness in reporting on the business of art, is just as important. Here is the NPR Music challenge or Trendy versus Quality
Does NPR stand for quality in music coverage? Not according to art revolutionary, musician, and editor of the zine Musea ,Tom Hendricks who has challenged the NPR music staff to a 200 song music challenge – the biggest in history. Hendricks calls it the "Trendy Versus Quality" 200 song challenge. He's suggested that NPR can choose any 200 recent songs covered on NPR versus his best of world music on the internet list. http://wp.me/p5S9X-36. Music lovers are asked to voice comments and join in the music challenge and make world history.
March 20th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
I beg your pardon!!! I (and almost ALL my peers on the high IQ forums) do not, by ANY stretch of the imagination, qualify as "centrist." Having been a member of several high IQ societies for a number of years, I know people of higher intellect pretty well. If you take the time to read the posts on these forums, you will NOT find centrists. Therefore, this article can be put on the list of "propaganda" sources we all know about.
March 20th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
"public" journalism on PBS and NPR died a while ago with Bill Moyers as the last gasp. While I will never give up trying to get us all to restore the public to "publicZ' television and radio , I remain grateful for outlets like FAIR and Pacifica radio's DEmocracy NOW, for showing us what public media is.
March 20th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Einstein was an atheist.
March 20th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Dan Quayle is a centrist.
March 20th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Nuff said.
March 22nd, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Einstein was life long Socialist.
As was Helen Keller.
Jasper McLeevy was the Socialist Mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut for 24 years – serving 2 year terms.
Dan Quayle is an earlier version of Palin – dumb as dirt.
March 24th, 2010 at 10:47 am
I join Pam and Jeri (above) in turning off and tuning out of PBS. My news addiction is now sated by Keith Olbermann, Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow as well as Progressive radio programming. Even though I have no use for Meacham, the prospect of seeing Alison Stewart on TV is enticing as she was a fantastic guest host on Countdown.
April 5th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
The choice of Jon Meacham as co-host of "Need to Know" comes as a disappointment, as it seems to confirm viewer fears that PBS public affairs programming will no longer have the "teeth" it previously had with NOW and The Journal. While I will reserve judgment until the show airs, Meacham's record certainly does raise concerns that PBS is moving toward a more middle-of-the-road, corporate-friendly, less provocative journalism. Further, it's still unclear what the network plans to do with the remaining half-hour gap in its Friday night programming. Let's keep letting PBS know that we expect quality, hard-hitting analysis of the caliber of Moyers and NOW.
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