When ABC announced that CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour would take over as host of their Sunday chat show This Week, there were rumblings about how different things would be. Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales wrote a nasty hit piece on Amanpour in which he worried thattheshow focuses on “inside-the-Beltway palaver, an area where Amanpour is widely considered to be deficient.” He seemed to mean that was a bad thing. ABC president David Westin, meanwhile, wrote in amemo to ABC staffers,”With Christiane we have the opportunity to provide our audiences with something different on Sunday mornings.”
Something different, something not soBeltway-oriented. Sounds good.
Oh, the show starts this weekend. And they’ve announced the guests: Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Not exactly strangers to inside-the-Beltway palaver.
Well, will the pundit roundtable change, then? Not according to this recentinterview with Amanpour (TVNewser, 3/18/10), where she calls George Will a “national treasure.”
Bozo the Clown and Lou Costello are also considered national treasures, so maybe that’s where Amanpour was going.
I for one plan on maintaining my perfect record of Sunday morning talk-show viewership – – 30+ yrs without having watched one of them. The few I did watch a couple of times back in the 1970’s only seemed to be dry talkfests by people who are trying to hide as much as they reveal; trying to be ‘insiders’ and cognoscenti but just offering up mere equivocating guesses as to future events, and putting their political spin (virtually always conservative) on it. I’ve always found it much more enlightening to get the news and views from the print media, and to get to the underlying principles you almost have to read a book about a subject to let it get to your intellect. I’ve had more moments of cultural epiphany when reading (e.g.; “Manufacturing Consent” by Chomsky & Herman, or “Beyond Hypocrisy” or “The Real Terror Network” by Ed Herman, etc) than by ever viewing a TV talk show.
The only Sunday morning show I watch these days is Fareed Zakaria’s “GPS.” It’s informative. “Meet the Press” has no credibility (the image of David Gregory whooping it up at Rush Limbaugh’s wedding took care of that); and George Stephonopoulus was a conservative lackey.
Journalists used to be honest professionals who strove for impartiality. George Will made an historic contribution to the deterioration of journalism. When he secretly used a stolen debate book to help Regan practice for his debate against Jimmy Carter, that was a controversial thing at the time. Now we expect liars and misinformation pimps. If I every see George Will, I’ll rip that toupee off his head.
I no longer waste my Sundays watching the morning news shows. Instead I tune in to KPFK, 90.7 Public radio and listen to Ian Masters and Blaise Bonpane. I learn more from these shows and Democracy Now than all the corporate press TV shows during the entire week.
I used to watch This Week faithfully until they started putting Liz Chaney on. Give me a break!
I have totally stopped watching ABC, NBC and CBS Sunday shows. The “pundits” are a self satisfied bunch who
love to hear themselves pontificate on subjects they know little about, especially Ms Cheyney who should actuall be hanging her head in shame.
Fareed Zakaria’s Sunday show is just brilliant, and the only current affairs show worth watching.
I RESPECT CHRISTINE, FAREED AND I ALSO WATCH LINKTV.ORG AND BBC…..THE LIKES OF WOLF BLITZER AND DAVID GREGORY IS LIKE WATCHING ZIONIST NEWS ONLY!!!!!
As long as Ms Amanpour turns up the heat on this regime, and gives not the slightest break to the duck ,dodge and hide style of these crumbs, I will think of her placement as a good move.Be a reporter Chris…not an advocate! Because Once you are inside the beltway for a time, you will probably be compromised like the rest of the shills.It is a communicable disease in washington.But for now …outside is good.I will be watching your interview with the speaker with great nterest .
By the by…….My first question to Nancy Polosi(if your reading this i give you permission to use this) would be a simple straight forward question like….”Nancy have you ever been under a Doctors care?Are you under his care now?And here is an oldie but a goodie……Nancy,anyone in your family ever joke about you being a few bricks shy of a full load?
Now you know why the job was not offered to me………
My first dose of Sunday gas was many years ago and I make it a point not to tune in …. I watch Book TV and golf and read the Frank Rich Sunday column
i WILL WATCH AND SEE IF ANYTHING OF GOOD INFORMATION IS GIVEN AND THEN DETERMINE WEATHER TO WATCH. GENERALLY I HAVE NOT WATCHED MUCH OF ANY NEWS CHANNELS FOR YEARS. IN MY IGNORANT YOUNGER YEARS COULD NOT FIGURE FOR THE LIFE OF ME WHY SO MUCH TIME WAS DEVOTED TO CAR CHASES, THEY WERE 2-4 HOURS IN LENGTH. STUPID ME IT WAS BECAUSE THEY DO NOT WANT US, THE PUBLIC, TO KNOW OF THE CURRENT EVENTS IN THE WORLD AND/OR HIDING THE RELEVANT CRIMINAL ACTS OF ELECTED OFFICIALS.
AFTER MY VIEWING THIS NEW SHOW I AM MOSTLY CERTAIN THAT I WILL NEVER BE INFORMED AS WELL AS I AM ON SUCH AS VENUES LIKE FAIR, DEMOCRACY NOW, KPFK AND KTNQ1020 SPANISH RADIO.
I AM LEARNING THANKS TO CONCERNED INDIVIDUALS WHO DO A FINE JOB OF REPORTING AND INFORMING:)