HOT AIR: ALL TALK, ALL THE TIME

HOT AIR: ALL TALK, ALL THE TIME Howard Kurtz (Times Books, $25) Kurtz, a media reporter for The Washington Post and former panelist on CNN's Reliable Sources, knows just how a talk-show gig can seduce a respected journalist; he has abandoned, for ethical reasons, his own career as talking head. His experience colors this exuberant indictment of talk-show culture, which offers behind-the-scenes critiques of more than a dozen programs that span the genre -- from The McLaughlin Group to Oprah to Nightline to ''hate radio.'' The shouting matches between journalists and pundits on political talk shows increasingly resemble those of feuding families on Ricki Lake or on Jenny Jones -- and are often equally unintelligent and, as Kurtz's well-documented analysis demonstrates, surprisingly uninformed. Alongside cogent arguments about the dangers of merging news, entertainment, and political criticism, Kurtz includes candid discussions with talk-show hosts and panelists. A-