Journalist. Talk show host. Brian Waters. Oprah Winfrey. Clearly those two professions are, and should be, very different. But lately, I have seen too many "journalists" acting more like talk show hosts. The world of cable news provides many great examples of this, especially considering the current polarizing rhetoric used in political banter.
In this video, Bill O'Reilly, journalist, author, and show host interviews the President during the 2011 Superbowl. I have never claimed to be a fan of O'Reilly because of his "interviewing" style of interrupt, talk over, and interrupt some more. This interview is certainly set up to seem "journalistic", with pre-written questions and official-looking papers. Watch the video and tell me what you think!
This next video comes from Fox News, and features journalist Neil Cavuto interviewing a Democratic Senator from Texas. Cavuto attempts to "challenge" the Senator on her claims and stance on eliminating debt, but the conversation quickly takes on a much less-professional tone.
Watch for yourself.
And in this last example, ex-MSNBC show host Keith Olbermann goes over his well-known segment of the show, named "The Worst Persons in the World". The entirely subjective segment submits individuals Olbermann finds despicable for various reasons. True, what the individuals did was in fact news -- but is this segment? Or is it just commentary? Is it even tasteful for a news station to broadcast such a segment?
The bottom line here, is that too many journalists have become loose with their behavior, tone, phrasing, etc on television. When viewers go to a news station, its because they want to hear reporting -- not just your personal commentary on what is happening in the world. And even if a viewer is unable to distinguish between political commentary and political reporting, as journalists we should know the difference and strictly adhere to practicing well-known techniques of good journalism.
That's all folks!
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