Robert Mueller should testify because his press conference showed the power of TV -- and because people don't read

The New York Times

The former special counsel wants Americans to just read his report, but the problem is Americans don't usually read -- especially legal documents. "God bless Mr. Mueller for his quaint faith in his fellow citizens, but let’s be honest. This is America. We wait for the movie, or the TV adaptation," says James Poniewozik. That became apparent Wednesday when cable news treated his statement as news, even though he wasn't saying anything that wasn't already in his report. "You can choose not to tell your story in the format people actually pay attention to," says Poniewozik. "You do not get to choose whether it will be told. If there’s interest enough, as Mr. Mueller has now seen, it will be told for you, incompletely, selectively and to someone else’s tastes." Poniewozik adds: "Fine, some Americans do read. Or they read analyses written by people who did do the reading. Yet even for these hardy print types, there’s a power to images and voices on a screen. Look at the landscape of entertainment TV today. The Handmaid’s Tale, Catch-22, Outlander — all works based on volumes that are out there for the reading. It’s human nature to want to see and hear a thing and to be moved by its actual appearance."