I am about to praise CBS News for an innovation of theirs, and those of you know that I am consultant to their political coverage can skip right on down to the next post, if you want, but I think I would have been drawn to this announcement anyway.
Television journalists are always criticized for focusing too much on style and personality and horse race... And the journalists always complain about finding novel ways to "cover the issues" ... and usually, every cycle, despite the whining, issues aren't covered unless they touch on the political news of whatever say happens to be before the executive producer of the broadcast.
Well, here's an idea: how about... covering the issues?
But...but.. everyone's inner TV producer says... to do justice to an issue would take, oh, four minutes or more, and there are so many issues... and the broadcast is only 22 minutes, and we can't possibly spend that much time on it.
To which the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric responds:... how about 35 separate segments on issues, each six minutes to eight minutes long?
Now -- it's up to the producers and their correspondents to make these segments shine on TV. And I hope CBS still has time for the politics...
But if you buy into old-fashioned idea that the larger news divisions ought to at least attempt to explain what's at stake in elections aside from politics, then onward.
The segments begin after the convention.
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