Gasping for airplay.

During the Democratic convention, FOX News channel gave less than one minute to Al Gore's speech (this, courtesy of that great devotee of fair play Bill O'Reilly) and not much more to Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy. MSNBC's Chris Matthews cut off Al Sharpton, righteously proclaiming, "This is a partisan act here," as if political conventions were ever anything else. Even NBC's Tom Brokaw and CBS' Dan Rather were guilty. On Monday night, they chose to feature 10 minutes of themselves instead of a speech by the Rev. David Alston, the black clergyman who was a swift-boat crewmate of John Kerry's. On Thursday night, two of the big three networks did not show the eight high-ranking military officers, including two former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who endorsed Kerry. CBS did not show Max Cleland's introduction of KenT. It should have--we owe him. I also thought Alston deserved to be heard. And it was important for the country to know that respected military leaders believed Kent could be trusted with responsibility for the nation's security.