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The last thing we needed

7 comments on The last thing we needed

The last thing we needed

: Leave it to my least favorite TV critics, The NY Times’ Alessandra Stanley, to come up with the single dumbest commentary I’ve seen about the conventions:

What was missing last week, however, was the unassailable authority that a network anchor brings to convention coverage.

I’d say it’s plenty assailable.

7 responses to “The last thing we needed”

  1. Thom Fillippe Avatar
    Thom Fillippe

    Jeff, did you catch any of Peter Jennings’ work on digital cable or the Web? I think his excellent work proved her point.

  2. carsonfire Avatar
    carsonfire

    I saw some of Jennings in particular, and I disagree. Anchor coverage was too gush-alicious. It was easier to find bloggers with level heads, providing info and context.
    I’m not blaming the anchors, though… in general, people closest to the event seemed to get too wrapped up in it, and were reporting more as dazzled spectators than clinical observers. Normal human frailty.

  3. Andy Freeman Avatar
    Andy Freeman

    In what sense are anchors authorities?
    They’re expert readers, but beyond that? (Some were/are good reporters, but that doesn’t make them authorities in what they covered.)

  4. TC-LeatherPenguin Avatar
    TC-LeatherPenguin

    I don’t think there has been a network anchor who could be considered “unassailable” since Uncle Walter. That she even thinks such an entity exists speaks volumes about where her brain is at when it comes to the beat she covers.

  5. Bombo Rivera Avatar
    Bombo Rivera

    “I saw some of Jennings in particular, and I disagree. Anchor coverage was too gush-alicious.”
    Wait a second. First bloggers complain that the anchors were aloof and not paying attention. Now you’re complaining that Jennings was TOO enthusiastic about the convention?
    Blogger = contrarian.

  6. Angus Jung Avatar
    Angus Jung

    “Blogger = contrarian.”
    Nuh-uh!

  7. J.V.C. Avatar
    J.V.C.

    I saw a few minutes of Tom Brokaw during the convention. He told his viewers to expect John Kerry to discuss “his years in Vietnam.”
    According to this timeline on the Web site that notorious right-wing spin machine, Mother Jones, John Kerry spent only four-and-a-half *months* in Vietnam.
    http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2004/02/02_400.html
    If “unassailable authority” Tom Brokaw got such a basic fact wrong, I’ve gotta wonder what else he botched during the past week.