News Anchors and Blogging

You may have recently read that one of the honchos over at NBC was opining, "Why isn't Brian Williams blogging right now?" This is in response to the fact that more and more people, especially young adults, are going on the Web for more detailed information than they get on the evening network newscasts.

Gee, Brian Williams strikes me an an odd choice as a blogger. Frankly, most of the news anchors and so-called news programs don't hit me as wonderful these days - too eager to kiss up to the powers that be, promote corporate interests, and very unwilling to step on any toes (and a good journalist occasionally steps on toes, wittingly or unwittingly). Journalism, at least what I learned when I was in school (no two-day Jeff Gannon programs then), tries its best to tell the truth without taking sides and without sweating (too much) about who won't like what you write or say.

Williams seems like a nice enough fellow, somebody you wouldn't be embarrassed asking to dinner or being seen with in public. But do we really think he would add anything to the dialogue if he were blogging? Hell, no.

The few news personalities with the cojones to blog are either blogging on "safe" topics (meaning: the Bush Administration will pat them on the head along with their corporate advertisers) or they avoid the political altogether (Keith Olbermann, whose blog was pretty good for awhile, opted out of straight political blogging because the right went after him with such ferocity and venom).

Of course, not every blog is political. I read a number that aren't (example: I try to visit several foreign blogs each week just to get a taste for what worries people in other countries - it's about the only time I get to use the Spanish I spent years learning). But in blogs, I have to admit I tend to look for fresh information and stuff I won't get elsewhere... so I think they're (blogs) very well-suited to political and media analysis. And no, I don't think Brian Williams has much to contribute there.

If you see Brian on one of the late night shows, you can see that his wit isn't missing an edge. But he's not going to display this anywhere it ties back to his broadcasts; yukking it up with Letterman or Conan O'Brien is wholly different.

So I think the news honchos are deluded if they think they can tap into the difference blogs and the Internet make by taking someone like Williams and planting him in a blog. "Fans" might engage there, but the rest of us would pay little attention. People reading blogs - on the left, the right, or the middle - are looking for details the mainstream media doesn't cover or chooses to spin.