Yearning for Walter Cronkite: American Media Needs to Quiet Down

by Diane Wilson

I have watched CNN and CNBC and MSNBC and NBC, and I have come away thinking that Canadians really are different. CBC's Peter Mansbridge and company lack the frenetic sense of being. He is grounded. The interviews are longer, more news is covered, and people have the good sense not to all talk at once, yelling each other down. Come to think of it, Mansbridge and crew actually listen. Thank goodness.

CBC is much like our Canadian banks. Which many of us had knocked over the years, knowing they were just conservative cash machines for Bay Street. They never seemed to be the real deal, like say a Citigroup. They didn't have the right stuff to get into over their heads with exotic derivatives. They just stuck to their knitting. Who knew that the entire world would look to Canadian banks? Thank goodness.

Or, how about the decision to go to war? Prime Minister Chretien seemed to take forever to make up his mind over joining the US on Iraq. He wanted to study the issue. Meanwhile President Bush had laid out a solid case for invasion and the other allies were falling in line with the US. In the end, the PM said No, and Canada was not the most popular country in the Bush White House. Thank goodness.

I say this not out of malice for the U.S. but affection. America has always been Canada's neighbour and good friend. But the tone south of the border is worrying. Americans are more bellicose than ever. Look at CNBC's Jim Cramer and Rick Santelli, and their rants. It is also pretty weird that the finest American broadcast journalism is coming from a comedian, John Stewart.

It's enough of broadcasters stating that Obama has declared war on investors. It's enough of the hyperbole. Hope lurks in one little corner of MSNBC, with a show run by the very erudite Rachel Maddow. She refuses to have guests bicker and she spends longer on interviews. Come to think of it, I would like to see her do an interview asking why American TVsters are so busy yelling and what can be done about the matter. Are the anchors and the guests just reflecting the mood of the country or is it something more?

Because, deal with the issue, they must. Years from now, patients with hearing deficits are going to be asked a simple question: Were you around heavy machinery and American news?