So The New York Times' Media Decoder blog is reporting that "ABC News is close to concluding a deal to install the longtime CNN foreign correspondent Christiane Amanpour as the new host of its Sunday political discussion show "This Week.'" This is extremely good news, for a couple of reasons. First, it's nice to see that a woman can get in this chair (Amanpour would follow CNN's Candy Crowley, who recently took over their Sunday program "State of the Union"). Second, Amanpour has always been known as an excellent reporter and a tough interviewer. But more important, Amanpour brings a profoundly different perspective than the other Sunday show hosts. As the Times piece says:
One concern raised by at least one of these contacts has been that she is not primarily known for reporting on Washington or American politics. But one ABC News staff member said that Ms. Amanpour had been convinced that she could make the switch from international to political reporting.
Let me be the first to get down on my knees and beg: Please, please, do not "make the switch" to be more like other hosts of the Sunday shows. Wouldn't it be nice if one of the Sunday show hosts was less concerned about the politics of politics and more concerned about the substance of politics? When David Gregory challenges John Boehner by shoving poll numbers at him, or brings on powerless and irrelevant John McCain for the 15th time this year to spout a bunch of uninformed drivel, nobody learns anything, and the world gets a little dumber. These shows only appeal to political junkies anyway. What if they got a little more meaty?
Reading this, I was reminded of George Packer's terrific post from last month about the shallowness of political coverage. "It would be strange if the Times’s coverage of the financial crisis, which has been stellar, focussed entirely on things like Richard Fuld's handling of his P.R. problems while Lehman was going down," Packer wrote. "And it would be strange if the paper's coverage of Afghanistan, which has also been stellar, focussed entirely on things like Hamid Karzai's use of traditional Pashtun rhetoric in his effort to ride the wave of public anger at the Americans." Not that all foreign coverage is perfect, but in her career thus far Amanpour has displayed an interest in the actual substance of events. Let's hope she doesn't make a switch.
-- Paul Waldman
