Kicking Journalism's Ass

I love Ira Glass and This American Life.  In a talk this week, he offered: "Opinion in all its forms is kicking the ass of journalism."

Ouch.

He especially blasted TV news, and he especially praised Jon Stewart (and, in an offhanded way, Glenn Beck, who he called "fascinating" without further elaboration).  A story about the talk is here.

He's on to something, of course.  Opinion is kicking journalism's ass, at least when it comes to ratings and attention.  That is, if you don't consider "opinion" as "journalism," which gets a bit confusing.  Is an editorial opinion?  Yes.  Is it journalism?  Kinda yes.  But what he's really doing is comparing the delivery of standard television news with the delivery of the host of TV talkmeisters, from Maddow to O'Reilly to Colbert to, well, all the people doing pretty damn well in the ratings.

Oh, and he praises NPR too.