Part of how things play on the 6 o'clock news is that things are not transparent enough, and there's a lot of opportunity to re/misinterpret things that the populace doesn't have any documentation for.

Somehow, I don't think politicians are being more honest when it comes to what's good for their constituents when they have conversations behind closed doors. I'm sure closed door discussions do allow the capability to be "more honest" about backscratching and payola with the other people in the room.