Point of View

Last night my roommate and I were watching something on a cable news channel, and they were contrasting the visit that John and Cindy McCain recently made to The View, with the times that Barak and Michelle Obama were on (the Obamas appeared at separate times.) It's pretty obvious, if you watch even excerpts of the video, that the Obamas were given a much warmer welcome and easier time than the McCains were. Even the wives of the candidates, who are usually viewed in a much better light than their husbands by people on both ends of the political spectrum, were related to in strikingly different ways. What was interesting about the show we were watching and what I've heard from others who saw particularly the McCain interview, was the amount of surprise that was expressed that something like this happened. As if what people were expecting was as fair, balanced, and objective interview. Really?

See, here's the thing: I think this speaks to a real problem in our society. Somehow, over the course of time, as Americans increasingly turn away from hard news programs and get used to the opinionated cable hosts, we've come to regard programs like The View as news media, and in doing so our expectations of them have risen to the same level as those for NBC Nightly News or The Wall Street Journal. Here's a thought, just because The View does a segment at the beginning of each show called "Hot Topics," where they might bring up a news item or two, doesn't make them a news program, and just because Barbara Walters is on the show, doesn't make it a reputable source for objective coverage of events and issues. It's a talk show, folks. These women were chosen in part because they have strong opinions on things, which can create heated discussions and conflict, which creates ratings.

Both candidates want women to vote for them, and the audience of The View is mostly women, and that's why they went on the show. Now, all of a sudden, there's great surprise that women who have made no qualms about their political leanings for years, treated the liberal candidate better than they did the conservative. I mean, it wasn't Walter Cronkite or Tom Brokaw out there, it was Whoopi Goldberg! Their goal is not to present both sides of the issue, and if you are turning to these kinds of programs to help shape your thinking on politics and society, don't be surprised if you start seeing things from a definite point of view.