Talk host credibility and Egypt

[Bill1820]

It doesn't matter what Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other right-winged hosts think.  They are going to be critical of President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton, etc. just because a Republican administration is not in the White House.  Therefore these hosts have no credibility when giving their opinions on how the administration is handling the Egyptian crisis.

[MattParker]

It doesn't matter what Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other right-winged hosts think.  They are going to be critical of President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton, etc. just because a Republican administration is not in the White House.  Therefore these hosts have no credibility when giving their opinions on how the administration is handling the Egyptian crisis.

By that logic nobody has any credibility - at least, not anybody involved in any kind of adversarial proceeding:

Right wing or progressive talk show hosts.
Republican or Democrat politicians and operatives.
Prosecuters or defense lawyers.
Management or labor.

Nobody is ever going to say, "THEY have a point" or "WE messed up."

[TheBigA]

It doesn't matter what Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other right-winged hosts think. 

You're right.  It doesn't matter.  Why?  Because there's not a thing they can do about American foreign policy.  So they can think whatever they want.  But at the end of the day, it's not their big fat butt on the firing line.  And they have no credibility because they don't have any real inside information.  They spouting their opinion based on what all of us are able to read and see.  Opinions are like noses...everybody's got one.

[UpstateNYBill]

At least with Michael Savage you are not going to be hearing Republicans are saints, Democrats are sinners all the time. Savage is critical of Republicans as he is with Democrats sometimes.

[Don C]

It doesn't matter what Rhandi Rhodes, Ed Schultz and other left-winged hosts think.  They are going to be critical of President Bush, Secretary of State Rice, etc. just because a democrat administration is not in the White House.  Therefore these hosts have no credibility when giving their opinions on how the administration is handling the War on Terror.

I fixed that to turn back the clock to 2003. See the problem with your logic?

[TheBigA]

Therein lies the problem with basing discussion on a single political ideology, rather than facts and real knowledge.  It all becomes a lot of predictable preaching to the coverted, and explains why the ratings have stalled.  On the other hand, building a talk show around balanced information ends up sounding like a bland Wolf Blitzer, as if those two things aren't boring enough.

[Don C]

It all becomes a lot of predictable preaching to the coverted, and explains why the ratings have stalled.

It's human nature to want to hear things one agrees with. That's never going to change, so selective exposure isn't why ratings have stalled. Ratings have stalled for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that radio isn't exactly the cutting edge technology it once was. There's more competition for listener time, and radio isn't doing a good job at keeping up.

People aren't sick of the personalities on the radio, they've just moved on.

[TheBigA]

Ratings have stalled for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that radio isn't exactly the cutting edge technology it once was.

I'm speaking about the talk format specifically compared to other formats.  Predictable talk isn't compelling.  Most of these guys have become way to predictable.

[Ultimajock]

...nowadays, "talk host credibility" is an oxymoron...

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

It's Thursday night.  I decided to minimize the amount of face time with the TV today.  Minimize the amount of keyboard time on this and other forums.  Concentrate on some worthwhile tasks tonight. 

But then I fell off the wagon for a few minutes.  I needed to feed my habit so I raided the fridge for some ice cream and I turned on Rachel Maddow.  She hit a home-run tonight.  She connected the dots on Egypt tonight and she sounded more like a news anchor than a Talk Show host. 

Well, I need to get back to the grind stone.  TV OFF,  Keyboard OFF.   Bye.