The deterioration of television journalism

[Commentary] Lisa Myers, the veteran NBC News Senior Investigative Correspondent who left the network in 2014 to "work on [her] golf game," says that the quality of television journalism is deteriorating: "I think the primary mission of journalism is to hold the powerful accountable, be they in government or corporate America. There is less and less interest in network television today holding the White House or any other part of government accountable....[Y]ou do not see the kind of in-depth substantive policy pieces or investigations nearly as often as you used to. The stories get shorter and shorter and the sound bites get shorter and shorter. Look, there is a place for celebrity news, for feel good stories, all those things have a legitimate place in various newscasts, but it should not always be at the expense of the more-in-depth stories or investigations that networks used to."

Myers may be right when it comes to the legacy broadcast organizations. But I'd also argue that the recent proliferation of cable news channels and paid programming has added new venues for the in-depth stories and investigations Myers craves. To wit, the third season of HBO's "Vice" premiered with an in-depth investigation into how climate change is affecting the world, from Antartica to Bangladesh. So the investigative pieces are out there, they're just coming from non-traditional sources.