Not that I am a reporter. . . . .

but I noticed last week while watching the Today Show that when Matt, Meredith, Al, or Ann is interviewing a so-called expert (they always begin the piece by naming their credentials) they can't just let the expert give advice. They just have to interpret what is being said and put in their two cents to make the suggestion more helpful to all of us at home.

Ann: "So we are here sitting with Mrs. X, head psychologist at the Center For Busy People, and Miss Y, program director for the Moms who are Stressed Coalition. We will be discussing how having too many decisions actually causes you to be overwhelmed and do worse in other areas of your life. . . . . ." At this point the expert begins discussing the research that has just come out (research which, by the way, seems like common sense to me--the 'average' viewer). As the expert is giving ideas on how to minimize the number of unimportant decisions in your life-- again, very common sense to me, Ann decides she needs to pipe in. "You know, I am a busy mom on top of my very taxing job here at the Today Show. I have found I really just make 5 meals really well so that I don't have to overwhelm myself at dinner every night." The expert, of course, happily pipes in, "Exactly. Those are the kinds of things we all should be doing."

Ann and the experts part ways happily as she sums up the 5 minute spot with one very revealing sentence.

Now, I am sure that these people in journalism are intelligent, but what they are demonstrating to me is they(?) are truly the experts on everything (this may be due to the overwhelming number of interviews they've given from all angles of every topic on earth).