[Commentary] Right now, television broadcasting has no one on the national stage talking up the business as a vital source of local news and information, as a catalyst for getting moribund local economies moving again and as a good business that just happens to be going through tough times. And it has no one out there setting the course for the business and unifying the station groups behind common causes. Perhaps it's because the business is long past the time when it attracted strong, entrepreneurial types. Or, perhaps, today's top broadcasters feel it would be presumptuous to appoint themselves as the industry spokesman and savior. But that's what leaders often do. Or maybe it's because broadcasters are simply too competitive. Broadcasters have such a tradition of knocking heads in the local markets that the idea of sharing strategies and ideas doesn't come easy. Of course, donning the leadership mantle carries the risk of not being followed. Broadcasting's leadership vacuum is exacerbated by the fact that two of its big trade associations are currently looking for new bosses. The NAB has been without a president since the board eased David Rehr out in May and the top job at the Television Bureau of Advertising fell into lame duck status after Chris Rohrs announced in May that he wanted to move on to other things at the end of this year.
