The Village Voice's Jarrett Murphy on why the Big Three should move to 7:30 p.m. and a brief conversation with Princeton economist and NYT Bush-basher Paul Krugman.

Some excerpts:

Sure, the time slot is just one part of the evening news' decline. Less stagecraft, fewer doofy graphics, and more hard news would also improve the shows. But the format is not necessarily doomed. A major part of the case against the network newscasts—that Americans can get news from a multitude of sources these days—is actually an argument in their favor. In a wide and disconnected media marketplace, viewers need some common ground, a few news shows that most people watch and can then talk or argue about. The network news could provide that, if it's willing to stay late at the office. (Full disclosure: As regular readers know, I once worked for CBS News.) ...

"It may come as a surprise," (Paul Krugman) said in a recent lecture at Fordham. "I'm not fond of the policies of the current administration." Everybody got the joke: Krugman has become one of the best-known and most prolific critics of Dubya's doings, from the tax cuts, to Iraq, to Social Security. An audience member asked what Krugman would have done if John Kerry had driven his nemesis from office in November. He replied: "I would have been able to write what I thought I was going to write for the Times, which is serious policy discussions, instead of what I have to do now, which is basically, 'Liar, liar, pants on fire.' "