Where's the line for talk show interviews?

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: While listening to Don and Roma interview Alderman Ed Burke on Monday, I started to wonder about where talk show hosts draw the line between being a tough and solid interviewer and being overly cordial to the guest because they were nice enough to be on the show. : Case in point: Don started off by asking Burke if the proposal for stop light violators to have to attend a driving class just a money grab on the part of the government. Burke made a lousy case to support it by talking only about those who support the measure...but Don let it go. He immediately went onto the topic of parking meters and asked Burke why the privatizing of them was pushed through so quickly and wasn't this a mistake as the Inspector General said it was? Burke responded that five aldermen voted against it in the begining. He then said that both the Tribune and Sun Times were critical of the move after the Inspector General's report. Burke attacked both papers by saying that it was interesting that two companies who are having extreme financial difficulty are calling out the city council for the parking meter issue. He never answered the question....AND NEITHER DON NOR ROMA FOLLOWED IT UP. : In their defense, I know time is tight and I have heard them do very good interviews, such as with the likes of Todd Stroger and Pat Quinn. Don has called both of them to the carpet several times and did good follow up questions. The Burke interview got me thinking though about how talk show hosts view the responsibility of the role they play. : They are certainly not the only ones guilty-in my opinion-of not asking the tough questions when the need arises. Or if they do ask a good question, and the answer is rather bogus in nature, they never follow it up by telling them, "That's great alderman, but you didn't answer my question." Ted Koppel was great at doing just that when NIGHTLINE was worth watching. WGN is brutal in how it handles all interviews with kid gloves. I've never heard anyone really challenged when they come on (any interview I've heard with Dick Durbin comes to mind). : I believe it was Dan Bernstein who talked about this issue several weeks ago when he and Terry Boers were called out for ripping players or coaches on the air. But when they are guests on the show they treat them nicely and don't ask for responses to the criticisms they laid out. Bernstein said it wasn't their place to do that type of interview because they are not reporters...they are talk show hosts and, as such, their role is different. The problem I have with that answer is that both Boers and Bernstein call out the media for not asking the tough questions, yet when given the opportunity they fail to ask them as well. : I'm not asking for the hosts to be searching to do rip jobs on the guests they have, but I would like to hear a better line of questioning. I am of the thought that too often the hosts seem to think they are friends of these people and, as such, don't ask anything tough. They may feel that those type of questions are for reporters to ask, but even then reporters don't seem to be doing those type of questions. I have wondered if calls from management have dictated how and what will be asked. Do they not want to be thought of as being adversarial and, thus, will not be able to have certain guests on the air? : I think too many reporters, hosts and even management people have taken a "buddy" approach to those they cover and that has really hurt the credibility of news organizations. I make it akin to those to talk behind someone's back, but when they are face-to-face with that person they become afraid to say the same things.

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