Gregory's descent from journalist to circus performer mirrors

[chieftain]

the degradation of the corporate media from news organizations to the cheapest form of entertainment. Sad to say, the success of 60 Minutes demonstrated how news shows could produce ratings for little expense. Unfortunately the suits bastardized the genre so their creations bore more of a resemblance to Hard Copy than to Bill Moyer's Journal. Soft news, style sections, voluminous advertising inserts, fawning reporters, partisan political networks and RW radio blowhards are the staples of modern news outlets.
So now among all the other ruins of a once proud discipline, we see David Gregory, someone whom I used to like, sitting in a virtual circus ring pointing to trained pundits who bark out their preordained lines like the seals from Ringling, Brothers.

[stellanoir]

1. In as much as I loathe using this popular phrase

he "jumped the shark" when he danced with Rove.

No street cred left whatsoever.

[Mags]

4. just another kiss up to the leaders, you know the media that

celebrate the BHO lead.

[grasswire]

2. I liked him until I saw him dance with Karl Rove

I'll never get that vision out of my mind.

[chieftain]

11. That was hard to take. After that he kind of morphed into a

Matt Lauer clone.

[hisownpetard]

18. Me, neither. That was it for me.

[spanone]

3. journalism as i grew up with is dead - the new journalism embraces celebrity above all

whether it's a celebrity or a celebrity moment....imho

[shaniqua6392]

5. I thought we liked David Gregory.

He has always been praised for giving Bush the tough questions at the White House briefings. I presume he must have said something bad about Obama and that is why we should think he is a piece of crap now. I really like David Gregory and think he is good at his job. I am not going to start criticizing him at this point. Maybe it is the new show he has and the format that you disagree with.

[chieftain]

7. I thought by coming over here I was going to avoid the

current unpleasantness on the other board. But I guess not. My post has nothing to do with comments about Obama. And I acknowledge that Gregory has in the past asked Bush and his flaquery tough questions. Although, I think he has been too quick to defend McCain and tends to allow Scarborough too much leeway, I was speaking less of substance but rather his mutation into the equivalent of a game show host rather than being a reporter.

[annabanana]

8. He used to be much much better.... This has been a slow but

steady slide into irrelevance. It wasn't just dancing with Rove.. It was a couple of real puff piece interviews with people who should have been sharply questioned. He pressed B*sh once which gave us some hope... but he never did again. It has nothing to do with the primaries...

[AlinPA]

9. No, he danced with Rove and sucked up to Bush**Co.

[Usrename]

12. I never saw him ask Bush any tough questions.

He thinks Bush's response to 9/11 has been brilliant. It took Rachel Maddow to explain to him that Osama bin Laden is still at large.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. An apt description

[MessiahRp]

10. Aside from a couple of tough questions Gregory has been a tool for the Bush Admin

He quite frequently came on MSNBC shows and shilled for Bushco even after he would throw in a tough question or two. It was like he'd throw in no brainer hard questions that the public was buzzing about to get credibility as a tough independent journalist but in reality it was all a show to help increase his profile.

Rp

[lunatica]

13. If you look at it in the context of the abuser/abusee syndrome

it makes sense. It also makes sense when you see it in the context of the bully boss who is allowed to continue because you want to keep your job.

Gregory has earned his show by knowing what side his bread is buttered on. As much as we'd like to see him be the bulldog we wouldn't ever be able to give him the status and the salary he enjoys now. The Beltway punditry is where journalists get to hob nob with the big guys. Why would anyone risk that kind of job? In his world he just wants to please his bosses, and he's enjoying the coveted status of having his own show.

Perhaps if he gets kicked in the teeth by his bosses instead of being rewarded handsomely he'll realize he gave up his integrity. Perhaps.

[chieftain]

15. I believe Sid Blumenthal wrote a play about the lust that

courses through political reporters loins to graduate from the mundane world of news print into the glamor and paydays that come from being a TV pundit.That accurate depiction of the news media in DC brought a ton of abuse down on Blumenthal's head for telling the truth about his colleagues.
It is more than sad to think that a generation that came into journalism with ambition to be Woodward and Bernstein has deteriorated into a perverse craving to be Lauer or Scarborough.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

14. I walked into my kitchen and saw Ed Schultz on MSNBC and under him was a caption Warmonger McCain.

Ed Schultz justified McCain being a warmonger and Gregory said, how can someone who has known war, be a warmonger (paraphrasing here). That happened to be one of the dumbest things I've heard come from Gregory's mouth.

I used to admire him. Then something happened. Corporate GE decided to give him fill-in gigs for Matt Lauer on The Today Show, and in turn Gregory sold his soul and became a corporate whore.

PS...MSNBC was on because my son's girlfriend who lives with us, hates MSNBC and still watches it at the same time. I only turn it on now for Keith or if there is a heads up on DU.

[Supersedeas]

16. talk has replaced news: talk/opinion does not require real homework, thus cheaper to do

[chieftain]

19. Excellent point. Wouldn't you think that these "experts"

would be better informed. I honestly think that the majority of regular DU contributors are significantly better informed than the pundits. I wonder what % of their information comes from talking to each other rather than reading multiple sources.

[Supersedeas]

23. You'll notice another trend -- the experts never leave the network family:

Joe Skankborough will have Gregory and Tweety on in the morning

Gregory and Tweety will have Skankborough on in the evening...and they call that 'fresh' reporting!?!

[chieftain]

24. It is all so incestuous. It is sickening to listen to GOP Joe and

Mika kiss up to Russert and Mathews. CNN started the self-congratulatory comments about itself but MSNBC is second to no one on how much it appreciates the job it is doing.

[Supersedeas]

25. with all the networks doing it, we're left to wonder: "where is the substance?"

[chieftain]

26. I saw someone had the nexis counts on news stories

on the Basra uprising and other important stories as compared to Barack's bowling. Guess which got the overwhelming majority of hits. Yup, the investigative reporters who feel that being good at bowling is this year's equivalent of whom do you want to have a beer with as a presidential qualification got printed/aired the most. No institution has failed in its democratic duties more than journalism.

[librechik]

27. they all have contracts to get used a certain number of times/year

and the other folks--well I heard it's getting harder and harder to find anybody willing to get on TV and defend the war in Iraq. Only the hardest core will even show up.

[kaiden]

17. He had on more rouge than a whore in a mining town.

I really hope MSNBC hasn't hired away all the makeup artists from Cirque de Soleil.

[Blue_In_AK]

20. Will McCain call him a trollop and a c*** for that?

[chieftain]

22. You beat me to the punch line. n/t

[chieftain]

21. Or if the reports are correct, more make-up than that trollop

McCain married.