The nitty gritty: TDOW on Grit-TV with Laura Flanders

July 29, 2009 2:19 PM

I had the great pleasure of being invited to Grit-TV to talk about the book. Laura asked me about why I wrote the book, whether the media is doing its job of asking questions, and about what kinds of questions I think people should be asking the answers to which cannot be Googled. The highlight for me was when they played clips from America's Town Hall Meeting on the Air, the old radio show that I argue is an illustration of how the media can model inquiry while engaging in current day debates. What a contrast to the Dobbs and O'Reilly of today. More in the chapter "Consuming Opinion." As Samuel Goldwyn once famously said, "When I want your opinion, I'll give it to you." I don't think Fox would disagree. What about the questions?

Click here to watch. Clip is about 17 minutes long.

— Andrea Batista Schlesinger