Getting My Friday Night Fix

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Much of my television watching involves watching the news. I don’t care for the cable news networks that have 24 hour coverage and not much substantive journalism, but I do usually watch a nightly news program. I especially like the PBS News Hour because of their in depth coverage and lack of sensationalism. Every Friday night on the News Hour they have a special segment that I religiously watch called Shields and Brooks, that’s Washington Post columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks. I have been watching this segment on the News Hour since before they were Shields and Brooks. They were Gergen and Shields when I began watching it. In this segment the columnists engage in a succinct and substantive analysis of the week’s major news stories. Mark Shields is a more liberal columnist and David Brooks a more conservative columnist. I especially enjoy this segment because I want to hear both sides of the issues. For a lesson in how to disagree in a nice way, this segment on the News Hour is a perfect example of how to do just that. Mark Shields and David Brooks often take opposite sides of an issue, but they are never disagreeable. They state their opinions in polite, civil ways, and show remarkable good will and respect toward each other. They also have an in depth knowledge of the subjects they are discussing. Their discussions are very different from many political discussions one might hear on cable news shows, and it’s an example many of us might try to emulate.