I decided it might be fun to compile a couple lists like this. In my opinion, these are the best people on television right now, and I’ve tried to cut across genre and style. Also I tried my hardest to think of someone… anyone… who worked for FOX that I could include on this list. I failed. Feel free to help me out on that one, or if you think there was anyone else I left off unfairly.

The Top Five (In no particular order):

Soledad O’Brien (CNN): The best reporter working for the news division of any of the big five news networks (CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS), hands down. She asks the right questions, at the right times, and in the right ways.

Peter Gammons (ESPN): His covers baseball for ESPN. His knowledge of the game is encyclopedic, whether you want to talk about the 1953 Reds or the 2008 Reds AAA affiliate. He doesn’t hold an “old ways are better ways” opinion that is found throughout baseball. Most importantly, he always clearly differentiates facts from rumor from opinion–and he bases the latter on the former. Every “field reporter” in news ought to watch tapes of Peter Gammons to see how it’s really done.

Charlie Rose (PBS): The best interviewer on television today. He is what Larry King pretends to be. He gets the right guests, asks them the right questions, listens to the answers they give, and then asks the right follow up questions.

Bob Costas (NBC): Costas works mostly for NBC Sports these days, although he used to have an excellent interview program on HBO which went beyond just sports. Costas is the best sports anchor on television. He used to be the best play-by-play guy on television. And he gives a great interview to boot.

Bill Moyers (PBS): Moyers is a former Southern Baptist preacher who now hosts a news magazine program for PBS. And it’s a news magazine program done the right way. He doesn’t go after the most sensational topics, or the ones dominating the news coverage. Instead, he goes after the topics that most affect American lives, and he is a constant champion for the real “Average Joes”.

The Next Ten (also in no particular order):
John Stewart (Comedy Central): A hit-and-miss interviewer, but Stewart exposes more hypocrisy in government every night than most so-called “hard-hitting” reporters do in a year.

Bob Ley (ESPN): He hosts ESPN’s Outside The Lines program. “Human-Interest” news reporting at its finest.

Jeffery Toobin (CNN): CNN’s legal analyst. He knows how to keep his eye on the big picture.

Rachel Maddow (MSNBC): She’s like John Stewart without the comedy. And yes, that’s a compliment.

Tom Brokaw (NBC): When I was a kid, Brokaw, Rathers, and Jennings embodied the news. Brokaw is the only one left, and that sort of makes him the standard by which news anchors are judged.

David Gregory (NBC): He was a fabulous White House reporter during the early-mid Bush years; seeing him go after Ari Fleisher and Scott McClellan was a thing of beauty. He’s taking over Meet the Press, and I hope he doesn’t blow it.

Brian Williams (NBC): My favorite of the prime time news anchors. He’s got the gravitas to do the job, but he also can be extremely funny when he wants to.

Jim Lehrer (PBS): If you only watch one hour of news every day, it should be Jim Lehrer’s NewsHour. Or maybe 50 mins of Lehrer and the first 10 mins of John Stewart…

Campbell Brown (CNN): She hasn’t worked the kinks out of her new show yet, but as a normal anchor on CNN she knew how to get at the truth. Her interview with Tucker Bounds about Palin’s qualifications to be VP is a thing of beauty.

Christiane Amanpour (CNN): CNN’s chief international correspondent. Her reports are sometimes a little flawed, but she’s probably the most prominent person on television who regularly covers thorny international issues with any real depth.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 7:20 pm and is filed under The Media, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.