Paper: "'Meet The Press' Is Now The De Facto Safe Show On Sunday Morning"

Newsday:

The new moderator often seems like he's wearing a suit made for someone else - Russert - and as a result has yet to clearly establish why he got this gig instead of anyone else in the conga line of potential successors. Gregory is terrifically polished, well-informed, a good listener and has the talking points of both sides down cold. But he also seems more intent on covering the waterfront than digging for news, or in pushing the talking heads off their talking points....

BOTTOM LINE "Meet the Press" is now the de facto safe show on Sunday morning - "safe," that is, for those being interviewed.

Read the whole story: Newsday

Comments

[NoSillyName]

Face The Nation might want to consider expanding to one hour.

[imsosure]

Safe like a corporate watered down make believe tell them what you want them to hear and hope someone will still stay tuned in long enough to make you feel relevant, yeah that pretty much sums it up.

[mikeant50]

Meet the Press should be called meet the Republicans because it has become a platform for Republicans to tell their lies and push their talking points.

[the964kid]

The last episode I watched was Obama appearing on Brokaw's last appearence. After that I removed it from my TIVO because I never liked Gregory. But, unfortunately for NBC, they didn't have anybody who could step into Russert's shoes.

[NoSillyName]

Least of all, DG. ugh. Unwatchable.

[cyrano1]

Last week's Gregory relentlessly hammering Dr. Christina Romer, chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers on the "gotcha"question of "Are the fundamentals of the economy strong?" was the final straw for me. I'm done! He was channeling Russert who also got into the same kind of side-tracking non-issues.

[dems08]

I wasn't impressed with Russert either.

[swift goat pet for truth]

They need someone hard hitting and with credibility.

Hire Jon Stewart.

[DMHendrix]

Because Buster is the De Facto repub mouthpiece and they know they can go on with him and be stroked and coddled.

[BigCheese]

I'm surprised to see so much admiration here for Tim Russert. He was Cheney's go-to guy in the media to get his talking points out on Iraq, WMD, wiretaps, torture, etc. And Russert's involvement in the Valarie Plame/Scooty Libby scandal was downright disgraceful. I'm sorry he died so young -- but he was no friend to journalism.

[Opus007]

I totally agree. Especially when Russert said everything from the Bush White House was confidential unless he was specifically told he could share it. Forwarding their talking points? That's journalism?
So much for speaking truth to power. I was never a Russert fan but it is sad he passed at such a young age.

David Gregory is still suffering from Stockholm syndrome after all those years of being spoon fed the talking points from the Bush Administration. What was NBC thinking? (However his old show 1600 is greatly improved with David Shuster)

[Rosewren]

I agree, I stopped watching his program about a year before he passed away as he would just fail to confront people when they spouted a lie or half-truth when I knew he knew better. It was like he was trying to be a shill for his favorite people. He certainly wasn't entirely unbiased.

[rblaquinta]

I will not watch MTP...it stinks

[Islandtime]

MTP is now Palin friendly. Unfortunately she'll make an appearance soon. Fortunately, I stopped watching MTP when Browkaw was stinking up the joint.

[lena22]

My theory is that MTP will not make pass the summer if NBC keeps David Gregory pushing the republicans platform. NBC should Lawrence O'Donnel in this position.

[CTeveryman]

DAVID GREGORY IS AWFUL!

He has far too many superficial questions in an attempt to show he knows tghe subject

Has anyone else ever noticed there is never any follow up because after he asks the question? That's because he never listens to the answer.

When the guest is speaking, David Gregory is just waiting for the guest to shut up so he can talk soem more.

Because of his technique, the subject, whatever it is, is never discuss in any kind of depth, just on to the next question.

TAKE DAVID GREGOR, ..... PLEASE!

GIVE US GWEN IFILL!!

[rejoiceinit]

The problem is simply this--Brokaw picked Gregory--I highly doubt Russert would have.

[blueberryhill]

Gregory is a softball player in the world of politics. I vote for Lawrence O'Donald!!!!

[Belisarius]

O'Donald. That is a very interesting idea. Very good blueberry.

[dems08]

O'Donnell?

He'd be great.

[GAPeach99]

O'Donnell would definitely be a better fit at MTP than on MSNBC evening.