Fluff

One of the most annoying gripes people have about the media is this: "News coverage is all surface; it isn't in-depth enough." It's annoying, because those same people increasingly read fewer newspapers and get more of their news from television. Worse, they get it from bad television--for example, folks who complain that TV news doesn't cover national topics in-depth enough rarely can explain why they don't watch The News Hour With Jim Lehrer instead of tuning in when, say, Mike Snyder stops, drops, and rolls his way to high ratings. The point is, whether it's radio or television, PBS usually offers quality news analysis, even though too few tune in. I'm hopeful, then, that PBS' quality analysis will be applied here should KERA Channel 13's plan for a local television broadcast fully develop. Station officials confirm that the Dallas-Fort Worth public television affiliate is planning a nightly local broadcast, but that's as far as discussions have gone. Says station spokesman Steve Anderson, "We're early in the discussion of this. We haven't picked a host, a format, anything." Here's a vote for keeping it simple, a la Lehrer or Koppel: a quick headline check, and then in-depth reporting/interviews/commentary about one or two stories. Oh, and the news should be read by go-go dancers. Yeah...go-go dancers. That would be the best ever.

Finally, The Met has named Bret "Spanky" McCabe as its new editor. For those who don't know McCabe, consider his hiring a good thing. He's smart and tireless. For those who do know him, remember how he got his nickname and smile.

—Eric Celeste