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One of the great benefits of a free press is the diversity of opinion one finds on the editorial pages and airwaves. The pundits provide us with speculation, opinion and quite a bit of good information. But they are not fair brokers of information. They are editorial writers or pundits and must be seen as such.
This election year has produced some interesting punditry. The cable news channels can be tricky places to consume information if one is truly looking for "fair and balanced" news. Some of the "names" with the biggest shows on cable are the ones with the strongest opinions. No need for name calling. If you watch much news programming you know who "they" are. And this is not meant to be critical of what these pundits have to add to the conversation. Quite to the contrary. We need them to add context to the balanced flow of information.
What is needed is better packaging from the various cable news channels on what is coming from a fair broker of information and what is coming from the pundits or "journalist/ commentators." The networks could do this with a simple notation "commentary" when these people are speaking. Alternatively, the shows could be labeled more effectively with names that truly describe the content as opinion.
Until then, it is up to the consumer to obtain information from many different sources, and as the saying goes, "consider the source."
