David Gregory has quietly re-emerged into public life, a mere three weeks after vacating his anchorman perch on NBC’s “Meet the Press”. Mr. Gregory served as a moderator at the National Ideas Meeting, a significant event in the nation’s capital organized by NoLabels, a bi-partisan interest group which intends to come up with a workable “national strategic agenda” by 2015. The organization was founded by Jon Huntsman, incidentally.
But back to Mr. Gregory, who moderated his own forum about the aforementioned agenda; Mr. Huntsman, Sens. Ron Johnson and Chris Murphy were among those to chime in. Mr. Gregory had a few choice words about the chaotic media, meanwhile - now that he’s met the press himself.
“Sometimes it is an over-simplification to talk about the speed of the news cycle. That is part of the problem. It is the attachment to narrative. In Washington political journalism, the narrative gets set early and then its built on,” he told the audience.
“Things that fight the narrative get harder to report out, often because of laziness in the media. The media has gotten very attached to the idea that Washington is so dysfunctional and the country is so frustrated with it. There is a self fulfilling part of that that goes along with the fact that some of these issues just don’t have consensus,” Mr. Gregory concluded.
As far as “Meet the Press” goes, according to new Neilsen numbers, it has fallen back to third place in the Sunday talk show derby after newly named moderator Chuck Todd took over two weeks ago.
Is it worth noting?
Perhaps. “MTP” is the nation’s longest running broadcast, now marking its 57th year on the air. Following Mr. Gregory’s departure, NBC made much of the changes it would enact, including adding contemporary “coffeehouse chatter” and some more casual flair. CBS’ “Face the Nation is in first place, anchored by veteran newsman Bob Schieffer, age 77.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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