House Democrats chase TV drama, but hearings may fall flat | Fox News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
This just in: the House Jan. 6 hearings will be a television show.
Just like most congressional hearings, designed to generate maximum publicity and media attention.
Ah, but these hearings will be orchestrated on the larger stage of prime time, starting Thursday.
But despite the panel's efforts to build suspense, I'm not sure it will boffo at the box office.
I wasn't stunned to learn that the hearings are being produced by a former top network executive. Ordinary hearings tend to drone on, and if you want to get ratings, you need pacing, graphics, video - all the tricks of the television trade.
James Goldston, the former president of ABC News, who once produced "Good Morning America" and "Nightline," is the panel's maestro of the moment, according to an Axios scoop. He's planning the show "as if it were a blockbuster investigative special."
Does that suggest he was sympathetic to the Democrats as a news division leader? Of course.
I see several factors that will likely depress the drama once the hearings are underway, even if they do show the videotaped depositions of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, as one report has it.
For starters, there has been such an avalanche of material from the committee - both in the form of authorized releases and lots of leaks - that there's little chance journalists will find stunning new revelations. The panel's best hope is that average viewers who haven't followed the details will be drawn into the narrative of what happened leading up to the Capitol riot.
In virtually all Hill hearings, there are minority members who play defense, object to how the majority is running the proceedings, and interrogate accusatory witnesses-or defend those under attack. While this sometimes turns into a circus, it's a clash between two teams to shape the outcome.
But the Jan. 6 hearings will be run by one team, the Democrats, given Kevin McCarthy's decision to pull his nominees when Nancy Pelosi objected to a couple of them. The two Republican panelists-Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger - voted for Donald Trump's impeachment and have broken with their party on the importance of Jan. 6.
That leaves the GOP with no choice but to mount a media blitz beyond the hearings. Elise Stefanik, the congresswoman who replaced Cheney in the Republican leadership, told Breitbart the party is creating a rapid response unit to push back against what its members view as "illegitimate" hearings.
Successful hearings often create indelible moments. When a congressional lawyer asked commie-hunter Joseph McCarthy "have you no sense of decency?", it helped lead to his Senate censure and eventual downfall.
When the Senate Watergate Committee called a minor witness, Alexander Butterfield, who revealed the existence of a White House taping system, it led to Richard Nixon having to turn over the tapes under Supreme Court edict and his resignation days later.
The stage-managing of politics has a long history. Michael Deaver created the backdrop for many of Ronald Reagan's speeches that sent stark messages, even if they conflicted with the president's policies. I can recall George W. Bush kicking off his Iowa caucus campaign at a barn with huge bales of hay for the photographers. Barack Obama gave his first nomination acceptance speech at a Denver football stadium made to look like a Greek temple with ornate columns.
This week's hearings may be a show, but they also carry very high stakes: whether a dark day for our democracy is remembered as a minor breach or a carefully planned insurrection, and whether Trump and his acolytes bear some responsibility.
The problem for the Democrats - and the media - is that many Americans are sick of the subject and have long since decided what they think.
Howard Kurtz currently serves as host of FOX News Channel's (FNC) MediaBuzz (Sundays 11 a.m.-12 p.m. ET). Based in Washington, D.C., he joined the network in July 2013 and debuted on Special Report with Bret Baier to discuss the media's coverage of the George Zimmerman murder trial.
Tags
Who is online
81 visitors
Nailed it right there!
And many Americans do actually care about our constitution and take seriously the attempted right wing conservative insurrection. But yes, it's true, there will be many Americans who don't care about the hearing, they've already made up their minds, which isn't hard to do considering how small they must be. Many Americans are completely unhinged nut jobs who believe in bullshit Qanon conspiracy theories. Many Americans are white supremacists and love Trump and vote Republican. Many Americans spend hours dissolving their brains making themselves even dumber than they already are by watching FOX News and other right wing media. No doubt those with little grasp of reality who have already melted their brains watching right wing fascist propaganda will not be tuning in to find out the details of the attempted insurrection especially since many of them sympathize with the insurrectionists. Many also likely fear being informed of facts that might challenge their preconceived beliefs about what happened on January 6th so they cowardly stay away and cover their eyes and ears.
Many Americans are unhinged lunatics with a Donald Trump addiction that 2 impeachments couldn't cure.
The third time won't be the charm, either, as adults move away from such silliness and focus on feeding their families and keeping gas in their cars while Democrats put on a show doomed from the start.
Texan and Jack say that Americans dont care that Trump tried to steal the last election because gas prices are high and baby formula is in short supply.
That would make us a shallow people. An attempted theft of a national election is at least as important to the country as transitory economic setbacks. Or we're fucked.
Well, that, and I don't think anyone tried to steal anything.
Maybe it is unhealthy obsessions that makes us a shallow people.
Transitory? You sound like you could have been on Biden's economic team and told him to tell America that inflation is merely temporary last year.
As long as fools obsess over Trump, we are fucked, because Democrats insist in focusing on him instead of the real problems affecting every American.
Shallow people??? Lemme see - six friggin years of court filings, "I've seen the evidence", Adam Shift's "I've got'tm by the gonads", Orange Bad Lying Biden is good, throwing up every barrier their "Party" could think of and manipulate the political state of the U.S. by the Dems/Libs - and everyone else is shallow?????
Give it a rest.
Go back to your far right cubicle.
[deleted]
Having the guy who killed the Epstein story at ABC produce this for the Democrats sounds right