I have been watching CNN almost non-stop since Tuesday at noon. I found myself a bit nostalgic for the Gulf War days of Bernie Shaw and Wolf Blitzer, 24/7.
So, of the news people we’ve seen so much of over the past few days, who do you like, and why?
I, personally like Christiane Amanpour the best. She is intelligent and reassuring, and she almost never says lame stuff that makes me wince. She also has that world-treveler air about her that suits an international correspondent.
The worst, of course, is Larry King.
So, what do you all think?
I have been jumping around from cable to regular news and I have to say that Peter Jennings has done an outstanding job. Just the right amount of emotion without looking like a ratings hound. I also gotta say that George Stephanopoulus is great too. Especially rumpled with his shirt unbuttoned and sleeves rolled up.
I’ve been channel surfing, but I’m mostly staying on MSNBC, with quick toggles to CNN (the next channel on my cable system) and ABC (the “last channel” button gets me there).
Peter Jennings has always been a class act. His interview with one of the missing’s wife on Tuesday night was very difficult for him, he even said “I hate these kinds of interviews.”
But, I think Brian Williams on MSNBC has been superb, too. And my man Chris Matthews (also on MSNBC) has been pretty good too.
Dan Rather also came up with “orgy of destruction” on Tuesday, which I’m sure will be used in the next Rocked by Rape remix.
Forrest Sawyer (I think that’s his name) on MSNBC is a class act. He seems the most real to me, not like he’s putting on a false face or an act. I watched the NBC coverage for awhile, and I swear to god if Tom Brokaw (it was him on NBC, right?) said anything about how “the most powerful country in the world” had “been brought to its knees”, I was going to scream.
My favorite Forrest Sawyer moment: He was interviewing some terrorism expert, and the expert was talking about how “we prepare for terrorism, but we didn’t specifically prepare for this” and Sawyer interrupts to say, “Wait a minute, you didn’t prepare for this? We all read about it in a Tom Clancy novel a few years back! How could you have not seen this coming??” He was just genuinely outraged, and whether you think it was a dumbass question or not, it was a lot of fun to watch.
Another vote for Peter Jennings. I don’t have cable so my options are much more limited, but even when I go check out the other guys I always end up back where I started within a few minutes.
He even made a funny today when he accused Stephanopoulos of being a terrible cameraman, and it was nice to see a little (teeny-tiny) bit of levity that I think signals the shift from shock to getting on with the business of our lives.
I’d do that too if I could only convince myself to turn the damn thing off.
Yet another vote for Peter Jennings. If you keep that guy up long enough, he can get pretty cynical (moreso that usual). On his regular news broadcasts, he’ll make this wry smile whenever a really dumb story he doesn’t agree with is over with. Sometimes he’ll make a hilarious comment, too.
There’s at least one anchor that most always fill the right role. He’s eloquent. He’s intelligent. He’s unpretentious. He doesn’t assume. And he doesn’t annoy, or come to a loss for words.
I’ve loved the BBC, TLC was pre-empting and using them as their news network. My favorite anchor has been a woman, and I’m sorry that I can’t remember her name, but she’s really great.
Brit Hume
Droll humor (though not seen now, he was quite witty during the election fiasco), intelligence, knowledge, relaxed air, fairness.
After that, Peter Jennings and Brian Williams. I like Jeff Greenfield and Chris Matthews, but they aren’t really anchors.
Forrest Sawyer is a pompous, obnoxious windbag. Rather is a has-been. Brokaw is smug.
Aaron Brown of CNN is terrible. He interrupts then apologizes, interrupting them again. He’s a freakin’ nerd. I do like the way CNN is using new hire (and hotty) Paula Zahn. I miss Bernie’s calming zenlike presence. B. Williams is solid. I don’t like Fox too much anymore (despite being a Republican). Too many ugly people. I’ll take a liberal slant from Good looking people. Seriously, I don’t like CNN’s politics, but as far as getting scoops, none of the network’s can hang with CNN. John King has a great pipeline of info at the White House. I haven’t watched them in a while so I don’t know if their shake up affected their slant (it’s not like this crisis has a partisan slant).
So that’s where Paula Zahn went? She used to work for one of the affiliates (I think CBS, I’m not sure) in Albany, NY. She gave a speech at my high school once.
Daniel Schorr. Except, using watsonwil’s criteria, he wasn’t cute enough for TV forty years ago. Good thing he’s on the radio now, at 86. Anybody who made Nixon’s “enemies list” is Oh-Tay.
Brokaw’s OK. Rather has, well, slipped off the deep end into pompous insanity so he’s always good for a laugh. Nobodies work for Fox. Worse, Republican nobodies. Gwen Ifill’s cute and has good guests but, after a day of NPR a night of PBS starts being too much. But it’s nice to see how some of these NPR people spell their names.
So, on TV I also keep going back to Peter Jennings. When he gets tired his “oots” come back, though he actually managed “out and about” last night.
I don’t know who it was that said it on CNN, but it was one of the women, on the Tuesday. Interviewing Alexander Haig, she asked a question about the location of the President. She said, “…And the Vice President is in an undisclosed location. The Speaker of the House, who, as you know, is second in line for the presidency after the Vice President, is also in an undisclosed location.”
The look on Haig’s face, as she said “as you know” and he figured out what was coming, was priceless.
By far the best journalistic barb of the the last 4 days. Another reason to love CNN. Very obscure historical references that almost nobody picks up on.
I switched between CNN and FOX NEWS. The “call it like it is” discussions O’Reilly had with the super hot dogs was fascinating. They used platitudes by the bucketfulls but )"Reilly asked questions not bound by “political correctness”. The rest of the newscasters were in general 34 plus…Fox News wins in my book hands down!
Freakin’ Awesome! Did she hit an emphasis and “you”? If she didn’t, I give you props for catching it so quickly! I love it! Haig! What a maroon!
As to my criteria, it was slightly toungue in cheek…slightly. That Helen whats-her-name that sits (sat?) on the front row of the press corp better be glad she worked in print journalism!
The old lady in the red dress, who had been covering the White House since the FDR administration, was Helen Thomas (d.) of UPI (also d.).
Another vote for Peter Jennings - always seems to say just what I want to know next, clearly and eloquently. Even when ad-libbing, as he so often must, he even stays grammatically correct. His stamina is incredible, too - he has had more air time by himself, without signs of fatigue, than anyone else at ABC.
The one time I saw him come close to cracking on Tuesday was while he was filling air time talking about families staying together, and that he had just heard his son was safe.
Remember, you can always watch Dan Rather in the hopes that you’ll be there when he finally loses his last shred of sanity. You also get to delight in his awful, awful wordplay.
Just after the Pentagon was hit, not long into the whole affair, he gave us this gem: “at this point rumors will be spreading like mold in a damp basement.” And he was just getting warmed up. The combination of his teetering sanity and his belief that he’s a poet can make for some interesting watching, especially at the point where he’s been on for 72 hours straight and no new stories are developing.
