Carl Bernstein on “Sins of Omission” Monday night
By Paula Abeles on March 9, 2009 at 12:29 AM in Current Affairs
On Balance….
My guest on Monday night’s“Sins of Omission” at 9:00 pm EST is Pulitzer prizing winning journalist, Carl Bernstein. Our topic will be the 2008 Election and how his perspective on Secretary Clinton has changed since he wrote his 2007 biography: A Woman In Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton”
I urge you all to tune in for some insights from Bernstein– one of the most perspicacious analysts and journalists alive today—but with this caveat.
As we know, the overwhelming majority of the mainstream press did not support Hillary Clinton, and many of us believe that their coverage of Sarah Palin (whether we agree with her on the issues or not) was as John Ziegler has famously termed it “Media Malpractice.” So, it’s more than likely that Mr. Bernstein will say some things with which you (and I) will disagree. But that, I think, is the point.
A good interview is a dialogue—but it’s also about eliciting information. As I understand it, it’s about asking thoughtful questions and being respectful enough to allow the person their point of view. When I took over from my good friend, Dr. Lynette Long, I billed the show as interviews with newsmakers “beyond the nightly news”. If you tune in, that’s what you get.
Some of my guests represent a point of view vastly different than the majority of NoQuarter enthusiasts (David Alinsky speaking about the tactics of his father Saul Alinsky, for example). Others like Lilly Ledbetter or Bernard Goldberg (Author of “A Slobbering Love Affair”) and my guest on March 30th –will find many who are in agreement.
But the point is information—and a respectful dialogue. I suppose I could ream recent guest Newsweek Editor-at-Large, Evan Thomas for the media bias against Hillary—but then he will hang up—and what have we learned? Nothing. And who will come on the program next time? No one.
These guys are the smoothest operators around—the idea of “besting” them in an argument is a chimera—but getting them to acknowledge (as Evan Thomas did the other night) that more attention should have been paid to investigating allegations of caucus fraud, or illegal campaign contributions—surely that’s more useful than the momentary satisfaction of venting about the failures of the MSM? If we restrict the universe of potential guests to only people that agree with our point of view, we are not being informed; only confirmed.
My issue with the Obama campaign started on the internet when his band of cyber-bullies did everything possible to prevent the HRC supporters from receiving a fair hearing. I wonder how many of us would have been as opposed to the Obama campaign if we hadn’t felt they were so disrespectful of opposing points of view.
My sense has always been that we are better than that. So, when Carl Bernstein comes on “Sins of Omission” on Monday night, I will promise an interesting interview; one that will ask good questions in a fair and respectful way. Why? Because as one of the most influential journalists on the planet, I want to know what he thinks about the 2008 election (and the female candidates), and why. I hope you do, too.
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