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Why academics turn into robots on TV

EDITORIAL | Carlo Rotella

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

January 20, 2012|By Carlo Rotella

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Enter the other guest, a journalist who had written an article about the subject. When the host asked her what she’d found, she gave him her main talking point: “We’re a ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’ society living in a world of ‘Leave It to Beaver’-era social infrastucture, policies in corporate America, and government policies.’’ Having delivered that crisp takeaway, it turned out she didn’t have much to add beyond it. After all, she hadn’t devoted her life to studying the subject, as the other guest had.

I’m often put in mind of those two when I hear academics on the radio or TV. There’s a sweet spot between the eminent scholar who had so much to say but couldn’t find a way to say it and the media pro who didn’t have much to say but managed to get it said memorably in a few seconds of airtime. That sweet spot is the zone in which experts can gradually shift the terms of public debate by meeting the conversation where it is and taking it somewhere new. That balancing act, using familiar language to say fresh things, is not taught much in graduate school, but it’s an important skill. It’s not even late January, and I’m already sick of the election-year political conversation. Come on, talking heads; get in the sweet spot and get to work.