Politics with Marc Ambinder

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Feb 25 2009, 8:17 pm

Get Out Of Your D$*#( Shells

Here's a simple way to increase intellectual cross-pollination on the web: honest bloggers of the left and the right should try to interview at least one author/historian/politician from the other side of the aisle at least one a month.  So -- Media Matters shouldn't just criticize Bernard Goldberg; they should interview him. Glenn Greenwald should, I don't know, see if Jack Goldsmith from Harvard would chat with him online. Bill Kristol should interview Jane Mayer.  Pajamas Media needs to interview Democrats and Democratic experts, and not just each other, or Joe the Plumber, or Sen. Jim DeMint. Righties interviewing righties has gotten so boring and repetitive; lefties fawning over lefties is lazy. Who's going to be brave enough to reach out to an ideological or intellectual opponent, promote their new book, or interview them?

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Comments (8)

davidconnell

Yes, totally agree. Although not a blogger, John Stewart has been doing this, and doing it fairly well for the last couple of years. I think of his debate with Huckabee over Gay marriage as a particularly strong moment.

One of the reasons bloggers -- particularly some of the independent ones you mention here -- haven't taken that step is that they are so dependent on a relatively small, niche audience for success and are not backed by larger publications (like the Atlantic) or networks (like Viacom/Comedy Central). In other words, if Media Matters pisses off it's audience by bringing in more voices, it can't depend on Larry the Cable Guy or Andrew Sullivan to pick up the slack -- it just loses readers to FiveThirtyEight. These guys are really operating on the margins and any loss in market share can mean the difference between keeping the site up or not. This, oddly, makes them much more conservative in what what the decide to post. In this case, more capital (aka. corporate backing) could lead to greater diversity of voices.

Greg

FiveThirtyEight is a bad example. They regularly post responses from the conservative commentators and academics they criticize. They also had the infamous interview with the Palin documentary guy.

Brandon

"Media Matters shouldn't just criticize Bernard Goldberg; they should interview him."

You've got to be kidding... right? Have you ever even read an item of theirs? MMFA is not a news outlet and hence doesn't do interviews. They do, however, do a great job at dispelling media myths, rumors and other viral misinformation spawned by incendiary puppets like Mr. Goldberg.

"Media Matters pisses off it's audience by bringing in more voices, it can't depend on Larry the Cable Guy or Andrew Sullivan to pick up the slack -- it just loses readers to FiveThirtyEight."

I hardly think Media Matters is hurting... Nor would they lean on Sullivan/Hertzlebacher for anything.

LizaBombs

Glenn Greenwald often reaches "across the aisle." A few weeks ago, he posted an interview he did on Hewitt's show, and he often posts email interactions he has with the folks he criticizes.

Walter Regan

Years ago, I heard the late, great Molly Ivins talking at a Nieman Foundation conference. She said something that I've always remembered. "Read against the grain," she told the attendees. "Don't just read writers or media sources that make you comfortable. Read people who make you crazy. Because you always want to know what the other side is thinking. Otherwise you're just being lazy."

Very wise words.

Corey H

Another layer of the problem here is that many authors, political figures, etc. do not want to be confronted by interviewers of differing political stripes. Is there really any chance that Palin or Beohner is going to grant an interview to the Daily Kos or that Pelosi or Krugman would be willing to sit for an interview with Townhall? Politicians, commentators, authors, etc. also have to be willing to let their stances be challenged.

Maybe this is putting the cart before the horse, but one other thing that has to be considered is that for the dialogue to really begin, the bloggers in question are going to have to be willing to have a conversation instead of attempting to interrogate their subject(s) for the entertainment of their often times close-minded readers.

mikiturner

Rachael Maddow regularly interviews republicans. At least she tries. She begs for them to show up every other show. So there is your first.

Jarox

And what about you Mr. Ambinder? Who will you interview? Here's an idea-- how about Glenn Greenwald?

Come on, time to get out of your shell.