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Can 'Meet the Press' be saved?

Cherie Cullen
/
Department of Defense
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton talk with NBC's "Meet the Press" host David Gregory in Washington, D.C., Dec. 5, 2009

The rumors swirled for much of last week, after an exclusive Politico report, that David Gregory was out at Meet the Press. NBC made it official on Thursday. Chuck Todd will take over as moderator of the program on September 7. Missouri School of Journalism professors Earnest Perry, Mike McKean and Amy Simons discuss. 

For more, follow Views of the News on Facebookand Twitter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyAU4VD6tUE

While Andrea Mitchell, guest host last week for Meet the Press, offered a tribute to colleague David Gregory, Mike McKean noted behind the scenes things had not been as pleasant.  

David Gregory had been on the outs with NBC News as the host of Meet the Press for months, and the ratings had been in terrible decline... I don't know if anybody can resurrect the Sunday morning talk show.

Earnest Perry agreed, saying Meet the Press's rating had dipped below that of CBS's Face The Nation, and that the change in leadership was in some ways "inevitable". He added, in their current forms, the Sunday morning talk show was at the risk of being "just one more cable news show"

Mike McKean said he attributes the trouble Meet the Press finds itself in to both the show's sources, and producers. 

Washington politicians, that have been the bread and butter of these shows, and the reason they have existed for years and years, have figured out how to spin their message no matter how tough a question you ask... and the producers of these shows actively court conflict, they want more heat and not more light.

Catch Views of the News every Wednesday at 6:30pm on KBIA, and for more,  follow Views of the News on Facebookand Twitter.

 

Austin Federa left KBIA in May of 2015.
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