I miss Talk of the Nation, too. If I could not catch it live, I would listen to the podcast in the evening. To me, the brilliance -- regardless of when you listened to it -- is that mainstream media brought the public into the conversation. That is a very difficult thing to do, and TotN pulled it off masterfully.

I read NPR nixed TotN because they felt they had a similar product in "On Point" with Tom Ashbrook. He's okay, but I liked Neal Conan better.

Yes, I've noticed Terry Gross throws out the occasional leading question. It is not a good practice, but sometimes it helps moderate an interview or open up a new path of discussion.

I wouldn't call Diane Rehm's show journalism, especially the round table discussions. But I agree, there is always good balance. And the debate is civilized. I may not agree with the guests sometimes, but at least it's not the riled-up screamfest that dominates television.

It is no secret FOX and MSNBC target specific demographics. I laughed at all the recent changes at CNN, because it seems like they are not trying to be objective, but both FOX and MSNBC, with a little TMZ thrown in. How is it no one at CNN had the idea of, 'Hey, other networks are so skewed, why don't we go back to our roots and practice real journalism?' This void does exist in television news. You would think last-place CNN would try something out-of-the-box and shake up the landscape.

What's even more hilarious is Time Warner broadcasts 'The Newsroom' on HBO which is based on bringing respectability back to television journalism, yet Time Warner is doing the exact opposite with their own cable news network. Oh, the irony.