Both Oars In Not the Point, Really

Jun 11, 2010

Somewhere along the way, the major media seems to have lost track of what actually rises to the level of real investigative reporting. The latest example in pseudo-journalism is Matt Lauer’s June 7th interview with President Obama on the oil spill. The suspiciously well choreographed dialogue, presented in the genre of an hardcore 60 Minutes segment, lacked the depth and intensity of even a mediocre day on The View. Despite the probing eyeglasses and mano-a-mano chair setup, Mr. Lauer is no Mike Wallace. His big victory—getting the President to say “ass” and emote. 

The interview began with the question, “Do you feel that at this stage….that your administration has been damaged by the oil spill?” Is that really the question enquiring minds want answered? I didn’t even know that the spill was going to make it to Washington. How did the political impact, which will last for at most one term if it lasts more than the next news cycle, get top billing? Isn’t the real concern the impact on the actual environment, or, for those that are not all that close with Mother Nature, on the economy? Afterall, it is not cabinet members that are washing up on the shore drenched in oil—it’s lovable birds.

I am not sure when Mr. Lauer decided to go all Mike Wallace, but it does not work that well for me. For one, I don’t remember Mike Wallace being so concerned about updating his hair style during his career. In fact, I don’t think he ever changed it.

More importantly, Mike Wallace would have led with questions on the corruption, malfeasants and negligence. He certainly would not have been satisfied with a juvenile response to kick some ass.  He would have expected, and gotten, a bit more from them the President than sophomoric idioms. 

The shame does not stop with morning star Matt Lauer. NBC nighttime anchor, Brian Williams, prefaced excerpts from the interview to be aired the next day with “This just in”. Wow! NBC was the first to reveal the contents of their own interview with the President. There was probably a lot of sweat pouring until air time. On the other hand, how hard is it to break breaking news when it’s news you have created yourself?

The President is not completely clean of schmaltz, either. At one point, he responds to the criticism of his leadership for being behind the eight ball by pointing out that he was in the Gulf way before the “the talking heads were even paying attention to the Gulf”. He says this in a manner as to suggest he is not currently talking to a talking head—a bit ironic and patronizing given he is speaking to a morning show anchor. The President goes on to defend his reticent manner by saying that he is not one to perform for cable channels. Thank God NBC is a network so he could feel comfortable opening up.  

Clearly, the President has his standards and Mr. Lauer and NBC meet them. The mutual adoration was alarmingly evident throughout the interview. So much so that one has to question the objectivity of the segment, or should I say infomercial. But, then again, this is the candidate that bought half an hour of airtime to get his message out untouched. We can probably trust that he did not go so far as to write the questions.

In a world at war in areas important to oil supplies and with real damage at home looming from pushing the envelope on drilling, the most important question is not what is happening to the political status of a president who will come and go like all others; it’s the facts. The news is supposed to deliver information, not the other side of the President’s personality - no matter how much the twitter choir likes the fact that you got him to say a few harsh words. In the end, Mr. Lauer, you did not get him to say much of substance. 

Mr. Lauer, I am not sure the American people want to see the other side of the President as much as they want to see the other side of this problem. But, you go man. Maybe next time you can get him to cry on camera. There could be a Pulitzer in that these days.