If It’s Sunday, Must It Be David Gregory?

December 2, 2008 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under News media 

Tom Brokaw will be bowing out of Meet the Press —in a blaze of glory and a trail of gratitude— after next Sunday’s interview with the President-Elect.   Speculation about his replacement is rife.

The LA Times reports on the flurry of rumors (fueled by a report in the HUFPO) that, after the long conclave at 30 Rock, all the other Timabile can pack up and go home because the white smoke is finally to appear and David Gregory will be named the new moderator of Meet the Press.

NBC has issued a statement that no announcement is imminent.  

So there are several possibilities:

(1) David Gregory has been busy sending anonymous emails to HUFPO.

(2) The decision has been made and this is an unplanned leak.

(3) The decision has been made and this is a planned leak.

(4) This is a trial balloon.

(5) The decision is pending the determination whether the role of Moderator of Meet the Press can be combined with the office of Secretary of State.

And, although I know it’s lese majeste, there’s another possibility that covers my own reaction to the whole thing:

(6) This is much ado about very little.

Where lese majeste is afoot, Tina Brown is rarely far behind:

One of the problems for NBC that was showcased during Russert’s media version of a state funeral in June is the way the chair of Meet the Press has become above all a Washington social and status position and only secondarily a journalistic assignment. Russert himself was not a journalist. He came from politics. His interviews either promoted his subjects or subjected them to opposition research. He was the Washington élite’s staff man, stoking their prejudices, whims, and attitudes. His regular-guy persona flattered the élite by making them imagine they were regular guys too.  

Russert’s key gotcha device was to produce those laborious read-along quotes chosen to expose the hypocrisy or flip-flopping of whoever was in the hot seat. But did these quotes ever elicit interesting answers? They were always so long the interviewees had time to compose whole paragraph-long rebuttals from their store of mental talking points. Brokaw hasn’t retired this device but the next incumbent should.

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