Deggans PunditWatch '08: Dissecting Kwame on NPR and needling Tom Joyner on C-SPAN

The best thing about being a professional journalist is the wonderful experiences you get to have.

Case in point: Organizers of a panel on media coverage of the Jena Six and Jeremiah Wright controversies at the UNITY convention in Chicago last month asked me to sit on a panel that included blogger Jimi Izrael, NPR host Michel Martin and black radio legend Tom Joyner.

Of course I said yes. Then I discovered Father Pfleger, the priest whose fiery sermon about Hillary Clinton at Wright's church caused so many headaches for Barack Obama, would also be on the bill. And I knew this was one of those wonderful experiences coming up.

C-SPAN took a while to air the video, but they finally broadcast it last week and you can now check it out here.

And if that isn't enough Deggans punditry for one blog post, check out my appearance Friday on NPR's News and Notes' Reporter's Roundtable segment where we dissected Kwame Kilpatrick, the Clintons and Obama and more.