The lesson might be that business related blogs should be truly anonymous, especially when you work for unsympathetic companies that do not have a union. On the other side, certain companies probably do have a case when their employees cross some line. As noted, anonymous entries are key. This is not a work related blog, but I find anonymous entries a good policy.
[Update: Liz Winstead called in during Unfiltered's last show on Thursday, and it was a touching and amusing segment. The two clicked, even if they aren't stars like Jerry Springer. Rachel Maddow apparently in now going to do some show at 5A.M. to fill-in some time until the morning show or something. That's a bit sad really.]
Air America is about to have their one-year anniversary. In honor of this milestone, Unfiltered will fully end (the failure to renew Liz Winstead's contract basically left it a shell of itself anyway), and Jerry Springer is due to fill the time slot. This does not quite bode well. The guy is not simply a joke -- he did hold office after all and has shown himself able to go into "serious" mode, and not for those phony serious remarks at the end of his old talk show. Still, he has (justifiably so) a bad taste to him, and it is not exactly a great public relations move. It is unclear if pre-op transsexuals and the women who love them will have any guest status on the show.
Meanwhile, the evening shows are knee-jerk affairs, even if there is something to appreciate (see NYT piece last Sunday on The Majority Report). Laura Flanders is in a somewhat different category, especially since she has some real activist chops (she paid her dues), but there is a certain knee-jerk feel to her as well. Overall, as I probably said in the past, the network really needs a bit of an independent edge.
For instance, it was almost shocking for Katherine on the Al Franken Show (she's the co-host, but mostly stays in the background ... the mean would compare her to Al Colmes) to voice concern of a guest mentioning Roll Call (covering Congress) in the same breath as with such conservative propaganda rags like Newsmax, just because both had arguably unbalanced reporting on a certain liberal advocacy group. She was a bit defensive in doing so, as if an even moderate "well wait a minute now" comment of this nature was somehow not quite appropriate.
This is sort of why I liked the original Unfiltered duo -- they had different personalities and played off each other well, and sometimes even had a different take on a particular issue. And, they each had a fairly equal role in the show. The early morning show also has this dynamic, though it is on too early for me to hear it that much to fully judge its flavor. I did enjoy the duo the times I heard them. Is it not possible, though perhaps like the Mets bullpen situation it just has to be taken as a fact of life, to bring in an enthusiastic liberal that has some independence in him or her as well? Not that the conservative talk radio circuit, from what I heard, is much different. Still, we do not want to be like them, right?
A year in, Air America still has the problem -- the newcomer might (rightly) determine that there is a basic cant that dominates, one that is not only unbalanced, but is kind of boring after awhile. If fair, this person will also determine there are some good guests and the hosts make good points ... they serve a purpose. Still, a few of them are truly annoying (who likes Randy Rhodes? really?), cross some line into offensive overkill (Mike Malloy), or lay left leaning bona fides on just too thick (Laura Flanders).
The true need these days is a courageous, fearless, and complex set of voices ... Air America does not quite do it, though it can be an important part of the general effort.