MANILA, Philippines?Our recent notes on the irritatingly low quality of hosts on local TV has prompted some people to ask us to provide a ?guide? to determining who are the hosts to steer clear of on the very appropriately named ?boob tube.? Always happy to oblige, we?ve come up with these tell-tale and giveaway ?signs and symptoms? of inept, lazy or downright bad hosting on the small screen:

First off, when a host says, ?I have a question to ask you? as he starts to interview a guest, that?s a big sign of trouble. Of course he has a question to ask, that?s his job?so, he doesn?t have to say so!

So, why does he? Because he doesn?t have a good question to ask?he?s slowing down the Q&A tempo to buy him more time to think up a good question.

Why can?t he think up one good question after another? Because he isn?t intelligent enough, doesn?t care about his job and the interview subject, hasn?t bothered to do due-diligence research on it, etc. So why is he even a host on TV?

Now that?s a good question you can ask about a number of the faces and voices on the tube. They don?t own up to the responsibility of developing themselves as good interviewers, because the main responsibility they feel they have is to themselves. Is there something wrong with the selection process for hosts on local TV? Well, duh, yes. Hosts are often chosen because they look and sound good, not for what?s between their ears and in their hearts. As a result, we sometimes get glib, shallow, self-serving ?hosting.?

Another ?symptom? of bad hosting is when the host asks, ?Tell us something about the event that your organization is holding.? The question is so general and generic that it betrays the fact that the feckless host hasn?t done much to prepare for the interview.

He?s supposed to have already gathered the basic facts on his own initiative, so the interview can begin in medias res (in the middle of things), and thus be brisker, more focused and thus more interesting and productive.

Once, we were interviewed by a well-known TV host, who floored us by asking us to write down the questions she would then proceed to ask us. We stared at her, dumbfounded. The bottom line is, it?s the guest?s job to answer questions, but the host?s job to think them up.

You see, if you ask questions that the guest has thought up or approved, you?re playing his game, and that is something that self-respecting hosts shouldn?t do. Because, the program host?s responsibility is not to make his guest look and sound good, but to come up with questions that are judicious and incisive enough for his show?s viewers to get valuable information and insights from.

The good TV host must continually remind himself of this responsibility to his viewers. Frankly, a number of hosts take their viewers for granted and instead focus on making themselves and their guests look good.

A third symptom of lousy hosting is when a host talks too much about himself, and constantly expresses his opinion. Please, it?s the guest?s views that viewers are interested in. Just ask really good lead and follow-up questions, listen well?and pipe down.