News stunts its reputation.(TELEVISION)

EVEL KNIEVEL RECENTLY DIED, BUT the daredevil endured long enough to witness the flamboyant hucksterism he popularized move from exotic to mainstream--a taste-defying leap that includes television news, which has sadly internalized reality TV values in its embrace of gimmickry and stunts.

With news subject to microscopic analysis from beady-eyed bloggers and others constantly probing for missteps and bias, it's no wonder this reliance on intricate devices periodically blows up in their faces.

A colleague observed as much about CNN's latest YouTube debate, which left the channel mildly red-faced over questions apparently submitted by political partisans. Yet …