It's entirely possible, LT. Though most people don't realize it, when guests appear on radio or television talk shows, the questions the hosts ask are typically scripted by the guests' designated PR staff, arriving in press packets before the interview. If the guest is on a talk show tour and you watch their appearances on various shows, you'll notice the questions they're asked from show to show are essentially identical. After all, the last thing a public figure wants is to be confronted with a potentially embarrassing question for which he's not prepared. So when the host attempts to slyly slip in a question for which the guest has no scripted answer, smart guests simply evade it.
Often when the host says something like, "My favorite part of the book was . . ." -- that's all scripted too. More often than not, the host has never seen the book they're discussing, much less actually read it. The choice of guests is in the hands of the producers, just as the topical analysis is in the hands of staff researchers and writers. All the "talents" do is literally read the TelePrompter, most of the time never having seen the script before they go on air, which is why when there are technical problems, they instantly go to break. They want to ensure the audience never sees the "talents" fumbling for words and showing their utter ignorance of the topic at hand.
Contrary to the image spun by the networks for which they work, on-air "talents" are rarely trained journalists in any sense of the word, much less subject-matter experts in the fields they are paid to analyze. Most often they are failed actors who have managed to resurrect their careers in the field of journalism (usually through the efforts of savvy agents). They're entertainers, and they act like it, which is why I can't stand the average interview these days. Their main job is to provoke arguments and fights to titillate the baser instincts of their audiences. It's embarrassing.
"Nonstopdrivel" wrote: