Bye Bye Crossfire

Buried in a small article on page 5 of the Business Day section of today's New York Times is the news that CNN will soon cancel its political debate program, "Crossfire." More surprising is the fact that CNN's new president, Jonathan Klein, "specifically cited" Jon Stewart's criticism of "Crossfire" in making the annoucnement. According to the Times, "Mr. Klein said last night, 'I agree wholeheartedly with Jon Stewart's overall premise.'"

Isn't this startling? How often does the president of a company announce that he agrees wholeheartedly with one of the company's most vocal critics, then backs that up with action? Isn't this a little like the CEO of McDonald's saying, "You know, I've been reading Fast Food Nation and starting next week we're going to completely revamp our menu . . . "?

As for the substance of the decision, Stewart was right in saying that the "Crossfire" format of liberal/conservative pairings shouting vapid slogans at one another contributes nothing to the national debate. It's also questionable how much the "Daily Show" format of sarcastic mock-newspeople making fun of liberals and conservatives on a balanced, equal-time basis contributes to the national debate, but that's another issue.