David Gregory to "Meet the Press": I'm down with that

A couple of years ago, I started to notice that NBC News White House correspondent David Gregory was mixing it up with the president quite a bit during the latter's press conferences. And not necessarily in a productive way, but in a good-for-television way. I wrote this piece about it, contrasting Gregory's histrionics with the "ask a solid question, get a solid answer" approach of a print journalist, Sheryl Gay Stolberg.

Now, according to Mike Allen of Politico, Gregory's almost certainly got the job as moderator of "Meet the Press," succeeding the late Tim Russert. His candidacy, reports Allen, was greatly aided by Tom Brokaw, who has been filling in since Russert's death earlier this year. So even in retirement, Brokaw is a kingmaker (if you've never heard the story of how Brokaw wooed Brian Williams over to NBC with the promise of one day handing over his throne, here's a recent version).

I like this decision -- but only as a "Meet the Press" decision. Gregory is almost certain to carry on in Tim Russert's footsteps, and that's probably why he was chosen over more nuanced candidates like Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd (and if Gregory's smart, he'll feature both of them every week during the panel portion of the show). "Meet the Press" ultimately is not about the exchange of ideas, it's a battle to define a newsmaker's image. It creates sound bites that can be played over and over: We will be greeted as liberators ... Will you let me finish? ... He is not ready to lead ... Even if he was a Muslim, what's wrong with that? "Meet" is a perfect show for the Internet age, because its clips can be reused ad nauseam to whatever end the blogosphere has in mind.

You can accept that premise or reject it -- either way, "Meet the Press" isn't going anywhere. And with Gregory running the show, it's likely going to stay No. 1 in the ratings.

Now the only question is who will take over his MSNBC show. Hey, here's an idea: "Lockup: RAW." Hey, it worked last weekend ...

Comments

[RKramer]

I don't feel down with it. I've not once seen Gregory offer anything particularly insightful in all my time watching him on various news shows (unlike Todd, who regularly achieved this in the primary season or Jake Tapper, who regularly brings something original in his reporting). Gregory is all gesture and not a lot of meaning. By this I mean, he looks clever when he goes through the motions of playing devil's advocate, but nothing ever comes of that opposition. Also, it's unfortunate that NBC just went with another white male at the helm. This will be a great opportunity for other stations to outmaneuver NBC.