People ask me what news sources I trust, and how I use the media to my advantage.
I call it “controlling my sources”
rules of thumb:
when an interviewer is interviewing 2 people, one a Democrat the other a Republican - hit mute or change channel. This is NEVER helpful or insightful. it’s just a debate club exercise and air-time filler.
If the 2 or more guests are non-partisan journalists, DO listen.
I really stress to myself (and therefore to you) to NOT listen to the bad stuff - the demagogs, the ranters, the one-siders, the nut-jobs. It just brings
6 - 9 AM - Morning Joe on MSNBC
5 - 6 PM - Hardball (Chris Matthews) on MSNBC
6:30 - 6:38 PM – evening news on NBC, ABC and CBS
7:00-8:00 - Hardball with Chris Matthews (MSNBC)
8:00 - 8:08 or 8:15 - Countdown with Keith Oberman, MSNBC
11:01 - 11:08 - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart — only 4 days a week, Mon thru Thurs. - will watch the 2nd & 3rd segments if about politics.
11:36 - 11:40 - Tonight Show, Leno usually opens with the political material.
Sunday Mornings are key: (from 9AM thru 11AM)
Meet The Press (NBC) - Tim Russert - numero uno; 60 min.
This Week (ABC) - George Stephanopoulos - Bill Clinton’s campaign mgr.
Face The Nation - Bob Scheiffer - very civilized and polite (sadly retiring in January next year); 30 min.
Late Edition - from 11AM - 1PM on CNN
Fridays on PBS - 20 min into the PBS NewsHour with Mark Shields;
and their half-hour show Washington Week In Review (at different times in every city).
#1 Website: realclearpolitics.com.
honorable mention to: thehill.com, politico.com
#1 Magazines: The Economist, Newsweek
#1 Newspapers (online and paper): {tie} Washington Post, New York Times
WashingtonPost.com - near-top, just click on “politics”
from NYTimes.com, left most column, click on “Politics”
#1 Network TV news dept.: (in order) NBC, ABC, CBS
#1 cable TV Network: C-SPAN (1, 2 and 3), followed by MSNBC, and CNN third.
#1 Polling resource website: www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/
#1 interviewer: Tim Russert (NBC, MSNBC) he asks the best researched questions, and Never interrupts the answers [take note Wolf Blitzer] this alone makes him the best. And I believe history will show, he was the person to coin the “red state / blue state” phraseology. (honorable mention to: Chris Matthews)
#1 Radio Station (networks): NPR! by a gazillion miles. CBS stations are the best of the rest.
#1 Columnist: Tom Friedman (#2 {but mostly for fun} Maureen Dowd)
#1 Foreign Reporter: John Burns, NY Times
#1 U.S. National Reporter: David Broder, Washington Post
#1 Time for Politics on TV: Sunday mornings (NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN)
#1 Political Strategist: {tie} James Carville (Team Clinton) and Howard Dean (DNC)
#1 For Fun: “The Daily Show” 11PM most places, Mon-Thursday only. (Comedy Central) Stewart has been very ON this summer and fall.
#1 Edward R. Murrow Meets Lenny Bruce Newsman: Keith Oberman (MSNBC, 8PM most places)
#1 Wonderful Laugh and Smile of any Political Broadcaster: Norah O’Donnell (NBC/MSNBC)
Super-smart and unbiased brains / reporters / pollsters etc. I always pay attention to:
Zbigniew Brzezinski - National Security Advisor under Carter, (Polish-born) who I think actually is being retained by the Obama campaign as intgernational affairs advisor.
Seymour Hersh - New Yorker
Fareed Zakaria
David Gergen - U.S. News & World Report
Jonathan Alter - Newsweek
Bill Schnieder - CNN’s brilliant senior pollster
Frank Rich - NY Times
Chuck Todd - NBC / MSNBC - senior political advisor, very smart
Amy Stoddard - The Hill magazine
Howard Fineman, Newsweek’s chief political writer; NBC/MSNBC analyst
John Harwood - NBC senior political analyst
Charlie Cook — The Cook Report
Chris Mathews - MSNBC
Jeff Greenfield - CNN
Stuart Rothenberg - Roll Call
the two political operatives geniuses of our time: James Carville and Howard Dean - I always listen to anything they have to say.
= = = = = = = =
Brian
brianhassett.com
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
You must log in to post a comment.