NP: The Robert Fripp String Quintet, "Kan-non Power"

Howard Kurtz seems to be complaining about how the mainstream media didn't think the Sonia Sotomayor hearings weren't exciting enough.

Sure, the dry legal debate over a judicial nominee is never going to be as exciting as a sex scandal, surprise resignation or celebrity death. But are news organizations increasingly losing sight of what's important, as opposed to what gets tongues wagging? Or -- let's be blunt -- are these Senate hearings increasingly empty exercises?

But I can't help read this column and think that he's using the "what other folks are thinking" device to disguise the fact that he, too, doesn't think the hearings are terribly interesting. Nowhere does he suggest how to address the perceived problem, either from a process standpoint on the part of the Congress, or from a media standpoint. If he was really a media critic, there would maybe be some inherent criticism of the media present, but Kurtz just sort of says "hey, this is how they did it," and lays most of the blame on the lack of fireworks in the content being covered. If he thinks the news is not newsworthy in its own right, shouldn't he be working for the Tribune and not the Washington Post?

I realize that pointing out that Howard Kurtz goes easy on the media he's supposed to be criticizing is like pointing out that the sky is blue, but this one just sort of struck me.