Taking on the Talkers

I write here about my book-tour experiences, bouncing from O'Reilly to Olbermann to Jon Stewart. There isn't a host out there, radio or TV, conservative or liberal, who doesn't have strong opinions on the media. But so do the people who call in to radio shows! I was on one show in Boston where some callers complained that network news was too liberal and others groused that it was too conservative. And some of these folks don't want to be confused by the facts.
I think it's great that everyone in America is a media critic. But somewhere, buried beneath this cacophony of conficting views, must be an objective reality of what network news really is.

Grilled by NR

National Review interrogates me on everything from Brian Williams going on Saturday Night Live to Katie's chances of survival to whether I prefer print or television. An excerpt:
Lopez: Is it a sign of evening-news desperation that Williams is doing such a thing? Desperate for anyone who can stay up past 7 p.m. to watch?
Kurtz: It’s true that the average age of viewers watching all those segments on back pain and hip replacement is 97. (Okay, I made that up. It’s 60.) But there’s little question that NBC is trying to show a late-night audience that Brian can be a wild and crazy guy. NBC executives have privately urged Williams to show more of his personality on Nightly News — he is, in fact, one of the funniest people in the biz — but he has clung to a very formal anchor role. Maybe the Saturday night gig looked more attractive after Charlie Gibson took over the ratings lead.