Talk Talk

I didn't realize that Jon Stewart's anti-Crossfire tirade five years ago is actually credited with (or blamed for) the cancellation of assorted cable news shows that featured debates between those of competing ideologies. Those shows were replaced with "ideologically pure" programming from the likes of Glenn Beck (on the right) and Keith Olbermann (on the left) that has contributed (this post argues) to the further political polarization of American life. I'm not entirely in agreement with this theory; for example, can one say the investigative work that Rachel Maddow does on the staged disruptions of health care town halls carries a political bias?

My father is an Olbermann and Maddow watcher, and while I sympathize with most of the views expressed on those shows I wish Dad could see that he's watching a sort of political performance art in which members of the Beltway Talking Heads Union repeat standard talking points ad nauseam in order to keep paychecks coming from various news outlets and think tanks. I prefer to get my hard news from a variety of sources and keep the "analysis" to a minimum. (Foreign Policy)