So the “vision” NBC president Deborah Turness has (according to an interview with the New York Times‘ Bill Carter) for the new, Chuck-Todd-moderated Meet the Press could just as easily be interpreted as a blast from the past:
Her new vision for “Meet the Press” includes adding a regular panel of journalists who will question guests, something of a return to the venerable show’s original format. “The show needs more edge,” she said. “It needs to be consequential. I think the show had become a talking shop that raked over the cold embers of what had gone on the previous week. The one-on-one conversation belongs to a decade ago. We need more of a coffeehouse conversation.”
Boy, does that sound like mixed signals. Does a “coffeehouse conversation” sound all that edgy to you? Lord knows a “regular panel of journalists” sounds perilous.
If Turness is serious about this, we need to organize a grassroots campaign to ask that certain journalists be permanently banned from the panel of Meet the Press, or we’ll boycott the damn thing ab initio. I’d start with Peggy Noonan, Bill Kristol, David Gergen, David Brooks and George Will. Even at their best, they’ve all gotten more airtime than their shaky talents merit. But I’m sure you have dozens more who deserve the Meet Ban. Fire away in the comment thread.
