One of the things I enjoy is listening to and/or watching a good interview. Whether the subject is politics or religion or anything else for that matter, a good interview makes one think and reflect, and it causes one to question and work through one’s own views. I like to watch interviews with people whose views I largely share, and I listen as well those individuals who think quite differently. Too often the temptation is to surround ourselves with people and books and news shows that only confirm what we already believe. Such a context makes growth difficult, and frankly, it is rather arrogant for me or anyone to assume that our views are already largely correct, so we don’t have to listen to a different perspective.

Critical to a good interview is the interviewer. A good interviewer does her homework and is prepared, she asks good questions, certainly tough ones, and also allows the one being interviewed to speak. This also means that an interviewer must practice the basic virtue of civility.

Yet, more and more the civil interview is becoming a rare event. It is now common for the pundit doing the interview to interrupt the person, not simply asking tough questions, but badgering at the same time. I stopped watching Chris Matthews because he can’t shut his mouth long enough to let the person he’s interviewing answer his questions. He just ought to interview himself each night. And then there is Bill O’Reilly, the pundit lackey for the right, and his nemesis, Keith Olberman, the pundit lackey for the left. It is very frustrating for me to sit there wanting to hear what a guest has to say only to have to endure the talking heads chime in constantly sucking all the air out of the room.

I certainly have no objection to these individuals, and any others, expressing their own views; it’s a free country, and it’s their show, but it is rude and uncivil to have a guest on for an interview and use that only as a platform continue to spout off. Save the op. ed. for other portions of the show, not while a guest is trying to speak.

Fortunately there are still those individuals who treat their guests in a civil manner, and allow the person being interviewed to speak. Individuals such a Bill Bennett, Anderson Cooper, Joe Scarborough, and Dennis Prager are people I watch and listen to because, whether or not I am always in agreement with them, civility is the context in which they carry on their discussions.

And the discussion is critical. If politics at its best is the discussion necessary to discover the good we have in common, then we need to speak to one another. There is nothing wrong with being passionate in our convictions, and asking the tough questions is one necessary element of a good interview. But in the midst of it all, we must retain our civility. Without civility our debate is no longer a discussion; it becomes a shouting-match in which good ideas are buried under the noise coming from big-mouthed pundits, who should have the sense to know when to be quiet.

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Cross-Posted at Allan R. Bevere

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 8:01 am and is filed under Ethics, Media, Culture, Politics. 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.