Wednesday, December 3, 2008

David Gregory and "Meet the Press"

Personally, I think the people at NBC/Universal have given up completely on being any kind of a reliable or unbiased source of network news programming. For years, NBC has gone from being a "news leader" to being the "cheerleader" for the Democrats.

The latest example of their failure to provide unbiased news is the seating of David Gregory as the host of the highly popular "Meet the Press" Sunday morning news show. On that imaginary shelf at NBC, the one that contains all the news staff, Gregory is definitely on the far left side of that shelf. Over the years, the center to right side of that shelf has literally fallen down and has never been replaced. Gregory is absolutely not the middle-of-the-road guy like his predecessor, Tim Russert. (Note: Tim Russert was left of center in real life but he did his best to remain politically centered while acting in his role as the fact-finder for "Meet the Press")

During Gregory's stint as the White House correspondent, there was nothing that the Bush Administration could do that would be right in his mind. Time and time again, Gregory reflected his partisan bias by taking a counterpoint position on what the Administration was doing; rather than just ask questions or report the facts as would be expected from any unbiased news reporter. While not as wanna-go-to-bed-with-Barack as Chris Matthews and not hardly the NBC anti-Bush angry-man as in Olbermann, Gregory is still pretty school-girl-giggly over Barack and the Democrats. So, I am sure that he will be serving up as many softballs to Barack's team in his new role as lead marketeer for the new President. And, when the Republicans are on the Meet the Press, expect the hardballs to be aimed at their foreheads by Gregory.

I think, like the entire direction of NBC, "Meet the Press" will slowly (maybe even quickly) go downhill. Gregory is certainly not of the class of those that came before him. The appointment will be the second biggest mistake in less than a week for this floundering major TV network. The prior one was to have a variety show that was hosted by the latest incarnation of the "queen of mean," Rosie O'Donnell. That one day flop proved that the people at the top of NBC are completely out of touch with middle America. Gregory, in a way, is similar in temperament to Rosie and the long-term results will probably be the same. Hasta La Vista, NBC!

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