networks

It's Our Air.

From the Times:

[A]re the television networks shirking the civic responsibility that was implicit when the government gave them the airwaves and let them rake in billions off a public trust?
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What was missing last week, however, was the unassailable authority that a network anchor brings to convention coverage. Mr. Brokaw and Mr. Rather complained that they could not argue to their corporate bosses for more time when so few scoops were to be had. But particularly when there is no real news, viewers benefit from following a trusted observer who can weave together disparate strands - a rogue faction in the Colorado delegation, a candidate's use of imagery and props, the leitmotifs of even the duller speeches - and bring to life an important political moment. Instead, Tom Brokaw and Mr. Rather took this convention pass/fail, interviewing a few headliners in the sky boxes, kibitzing with their colleagues and house experts, but never engaging fully in the drama beneath them.
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That is one reason why the comedian Jon Stewart was so popular a compass to convention coverage. "The Daily Show," his program on Comedy Central, did not just mock the politicians - easy targets well flayed by Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel, et al. Mr. Stewart also zeroed in on the television journalists who chose to snub the convention as they covered it. Mr. Stewart lampooned those who deplored the slick, synthetic packaging of events, then grew indignant when Al Sharpton diverged from the script. ("I think it is an insult to African-American voters that they are giving this guy as much time as they have," groused Howard Fineman, a Newsweek columnist who as a panelist on MSNBC, alongside Chris Matthews, was on the air more than most speakers.)