But it has recently become more common to see politicians, especially John McCain, made uncomfortable by the directness of the conversation on daytime television, a directness that isn’t often found in the more traditional news media.
Salon has an interesting piece on the tendency of daytime television to deal with important issues of the day. This includes "light" talk shows and soap operas. The article points to McCain having to answer the gay marriage question:
It was a glimpse at what the daytime format makes possible: a breezy, casual, personal exchange as vehicle for a larger social conversation. The moment packs a wallop in part because the heft of the encounter is a surprise, and in part because it is delivered by a host, like DeGeneres, whom viewers feel they know intimately and trust. Instead of watching a political pundit conduct an inside-baseball transaction with a candidate, an audience can feel as if a friend has just asked the questions.
The "exchange" part, see also The View, also warrants comment. Daytime talk shows, see Regis, often have such a "chat" segment that is somewhat freewheeling. It also actually is a conversation or stream of consciousness of sorts, which is better than the too often regular alternative on nightly news and news commentary shows. Ellen actually "persisted" and provided a follow-up. This is how real conversations and attempts to get a (complete) sense of how things really are should work.
This seems to be verboten on many nightly shows, as shown when Andrea Mitchell let out on Rachel Maddow that "some" were critical of references to the Keating Five ... this in a piece centering on McCain's wife suggesting Obama doesn't support the troops since he opposed legislation that in his opinion hurt them. OTOH, ahem, McCain WAS involved with Keating, and apologized for it! This led to one of those "screaming at the screen moments," this time because Rachel just let that go. She in other words, in a small way, promoted ignorance. Thanks!
This is not to say that somehow The View is where you should get all your political information from; not quite. But, it does point to the value of various sorts of media, just as various types of reading (including comic books and such) can provide surprisingly nutritious fare at the end of the day along with some pleasure and fun. Truly slumming is so hard these days.