David Gregory, superstar of NBC News and former White House correspondent, will host his first episode of “Meet the Press,” the interview news program, this Sunday. While the media had been speculating for weeks about who the new host would be, Americans have mostly survived the wait. At least I have.
“Meet the Press” is the longest-running television show in broadcast history, and NBC staffers regard it with a great degree of reverence. This same fawning is paid to Tim Russert, the long-time host of MPT who died earlier this year. Tom Brokaw, who took over as temporary host after Russert died, was in full reverence mode when he introduced Gregory as the new host on last week’s show. “Tim always liked to say that ‘Meet the Press was a national treasure, the rest of us were all temporary custodians of all that,” Brokaw said.
Apparently, within the NBC studios Brokaw is also a national treasure. At least that’s how Gregory treated him during their conversation last week. “I feel so grateful to you for everything you’ve brought to the program in such a difficult time after Tim died, and it’s really meant a lot,” Gregory said. “It’s meant a lot to the country, it’s meant a lot to us to see your example.”
Really? It’s meant a lot to the country? Russert’s untimely death may have been a surprise, but I’m sorry to say most people have pretty much moved on by now. (Slate’s Jack Shafer documented the media’s obsessive and saccharine Russert coverage.) With the newly canonized Russert tied so closely to “Meet the Press,” it’s understandable (in a way) that the press hyperventilated about his replacement (as again covered by Shafer.)
In his sign-off last week, Brokaw noted how “Meet the Press” was valued by viewers outside of New York City and Washington, D.C. “Across the country,” he said, “I have been very struck by how important this broadcast is to people as a regular appointment for them.”
But “Meet the Press” was relevant only once during the presidential campaign, when Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama. And this relevance was due solely to Powell’s praise for Obama.
There has to be a generational gap, because I have watched “Meet the Press” exactly once: for the Colin Powell segment. And that was by streaming video.
Brokaw encouraged Gregory to “reach to your generation and get some fresh new voices that are out there because it’s a very impressive crowd of young journalists who are coming of age.” I’m flattered, Tom, I am. But notice he didn’t say “young viewers.” Maybe that’s because no young person in her right mind would wake up at 8 a.m. Sunday morning to listen to politicians go over their talking points.
If “Meet the Press” is the institution I keep hearing it is, then it will still be around in 39 years, for its 100th birthday. By then I’ll be 65, and old enough to appreciate the wonder that is “Meet the Press.” Will David Gregory still be hosting?
“What this just did in one sound bite—and I assume that sound bite will end up in an ad—is it eliminated the experience argument,” Gingrich said.