The return of ‘Beat the Press’

Thank you for this post as I hadn’t otherwise heard about the return of Beat the Press as a podcast. I miss Beat the Press so I look forward to listening.

I liked the podcast even better than the TV show because it was more like a true back-and-forth rather than 4 (or 5) talking heads taking turns with their opinions. It also allowed a broader discussion since the time limit imposed on a TV program was not as big a concern. I can remember many times when Emily would say “we have to move on” and segue into a new topic when it appeared that more discussion on the current topic was warranted but in the podcast it appeared that each topic reached a natural breaking-point. Good work!

on the issue of democracy in peril and educating the public: I would like to see more attention (perhaps in specials or documentaries — not necessarily in news casts) paid to topics such as how the list of jurisdictions requiring pre-clearance in the Voting Rights Act could be updated by Congress. Because voters could, if they chose to, vote in other members of Congress, members who would pass an updated list — if voters themselves support the need to defend the vote against suppressive acts in this way.

And that’s where I get dismayed, because I actually have no idea how many Americans support updating the list (the previous one having been declared out-of-date by the Supreme Court), and I worry that the real problem is that too many people don’t see the need even if they are aware of the issue. But I’d like to see if my pessimism is unwarranted, and I’d like to see the media do more to make known such issues on which the public can take action.

I did notice some things don’t work as well without video. The setup for the first segment had some talking heads, but I couldn’t place the voices.