What's Your Problem?

“What’s Your Problem?” – WYP is a weekly online video discussion between conservative National Review columnist Jonah Godlberg and liberal columnist Peter Beinart of The New Republic. It started within the last year and is, if NRO’s blog represents it correctly, an increasingly popular show. As you can see if you watch it (click here), a few things stand out:

• Courteousness: These guys buck the trend of partisan hate. They like each other and treat other well. They disagree nicely.
• Depth: This isn’t soundbite nonsense like you get on Crossfire. They are talking about topics that require some depth of discussion, and they know their stuff.
• Fun: They both have smart senses of humor, which they display at the right time.
• Budget: They use computer vidcams in their homes. There’s no set. These are writers sitting at their desks, in casual clothes, no makeup, nothing. They’ve even got earpieces to hear each other without an echo. But it works! For 10 seconds, a viewer thinks “hey, this is strange,” but by the 11th second, the casual nature of the thing feels right, authentic, enjoyable.

The Question: Is there anything we can learn from this? As we think about engaging BreakPoint supporters, and as we think about “letting supporters in” so that they can be “a part of the story,” and as we think about the Legacy Project, I wonder if it doesn’t make sense to have both regular and special video discussions between Fellows and the other sides’ experts. Or between Christians who disagree on substantive matters. Even our writers could potentially be useful here. I see Roberto excelling at such a thing. Even better, we could frequently request the users or supporters submit topics, so that they are driving the agenda.

Any thoughts?