Terry Moran is a Blogger: And??

It must be "in" to be a blogger these days. Tonight at the end of his Nightline broadcast, ABC Nightline anchor Terry Moran announced "on a personal note" that he had started a blog.

OK, I'll admit, I've been very skeptical of the trio anchoring Nightline strategy since it began just over a year ago.

More importantly, Nightline (and many of the other network programs)are notorious for feigning interest in viewer INPUT when in fact most of the communication is one-way.

They send e-mails "promoting" their newscasts and then make it clear "WE CANNOT RESPOND TO ALL E-MAILS"

Thus, the online interaction that's supposed to occur really is nothing more than another outlet for ONE-WAY communication (just like TV).

Like many discussion boards, the ABC Nightline discussion boards are notoriously uninspiring. And, most busy people don't have time to wade through all the chatter.

So, I REALLY wonder if Terry Moran intends to offer his comments ON VIEWER comments or if this is just cross-promotion using the Web.

One thing he can start with is a more down-to-earth vocabulary. "Uxorial?" What does that mean?

Pardon my limited vocabulary, but I had to pull out my Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary to figure out that "uxorial" means "of or relating to wife."

It works as his blog posting is about Hillary Clinton's candidacy and its connection to her spouse. But, do we really want to use words that alienate?

About the show, I was not WATCHING as much as I listening to tonight's show as it was going on in the other room-- but I heard the multiple pieces picking over Bush's State of the Union address.

I STILL WONDER if an interview segment would not have been a little more appropriate for tonight?

When Cynthia McFadden, Martin Bashir and Terry took over after Ted Koppel retired, I was not a fan of the EXTENDED ABC World News Tonight pieces. Lately, though, some of them have been quite good. I taped TWO broadcasts recently.

Still, I think even though the cable networks and the broadcast networks had interviews, ABC Nightline would have been well-served to do an extended interview with unlikely figure who could provide unusual insight on the State of the Union.

Much focus was given in the pieces tonight to the alternative fuels discussion and the available of the raw materials for alternative fuels in Alabama. IT might have been neat to have one of the scientists from Alabama do a talkback from Alabama about the reference to these fuels. I realize this was also talked about LAST YEAR in the 2006 address.

I'm not sure anyone will read these musings. But, the jury is still out on Terry Moran as a blogger. He's an experienced journalist. But can he REALLY blog?

As the cliche goes, "only time will tell."