I have been on Daily Kos (under different names) for well over a decade. If there is an unpopular opinion on Kos, it is to defend Meet the Press - and this is completely justifiable for many reasons. I used to defend Tim Russert before his untimely death and took a lot of slack for that position. While Russert was imperfect, having lived with David Gregory for 6 years, I think that most of us would have gone back to Russert. Since that is no longer an option, we need to figure out how to move forward and fight for strong journalism.
If we ever want to see better journalism on television, we need to be fair arbiters and criticize MTP when it is bad and give it credit when it is effective. Today, on balance, Andrea Mitchell did a good job.
My analysis of Meet the Press today:
1. Stronger Diversity: There has been much criticism of racial and gender diversity on the Sunday programs over the years - today, probably because of the topic, there was much stronger racial and gender representation. While this is pure speculation, if David Gregory were still at the helm, for some false sense of balance, which was Gregory's specialty, we would have had Rick Santorum and / or Ralph Reed on the other side of the table - showing off their expertise on African American culture / relations.
2. Strong Guests / In Depth: One of David Gregory's changes to MTP was changing from 3 longer segments to more small segments. Again, this may be content specific, but Mitchel spent 25 minutes straight focused on Ferguson, with actual experts on civil rights issues. Guests were an expert on race and justice, former police chief of the LA police department, a newspaper editor who has been covering Ferguson, the Washington Post reporter who had been arrested, the mayor of Baltimore, and Congressman John Lewis - civil rights hero. The entire panel were experts, given a chance to speak, there wasn't the David Gregory false balance, and Mitchell dug into the topic in a way reminiscent of Chris Hayes.
3. Strong Interview: Andrea Mitchell challenged Governor Nixon multiple times asking him why the police chief has not stepped down for releasing the video (and she clearly said that the video caused the unrest - basic truth for us - but something I could not picture David Gregory asking), why a local prosecutor has not been relieved of his duties, multiple questions on what is taking so long to get answers on the shooting, and overall, a strong / tough interview. This was not a David Gregory wishy washy interview.
4. Refused to let Guest Change Topic: On the discussion panel, there was a writer who started changing the topic from Ferguson to violence in African American community in general - Mitchell cut him off and insisted that was a different topic. Yes, it is an important topic (though I question the author's motives), it does not have anything to do with Ferguson - he was a booking error, that could have been prevented, but she took care of it anyway.
5. Criticism: My biggest criticism of Mitchell would be the roundtable discussion on Syria / Iraq - she asked about whether or not ISIS could have been prevented by "doing more militarily", without asking the real question - "would ISIS exist if we never invaded Iraq". However, her guests did provide good pushback.
6. John McCain and Lindsey Graham were not guests - incredible!
While I am not a fan of Andrea Mitchell - her marriage to Alan Greenspan alone shows a stunning lack of judgment (not to mention her previous coverage of Israel / Palestine, the Iraq war, and many other issues) - she did a good job today. It was not perfect - I could list a few criticisms; however, credit should be given where credit is due, if we ever want a more responsible media.
Of course, most of us are skeptical of Chuck Todd taking the helm - and rightfully so - but, I am hoping he will view this as a fresh start and follow the good start that Mitchell led today.
Meet the Press Transcript