In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Earlier I meant to link to an article that surveyed viewers of news shows vs. late night tv vewiers vs. Jon Stewart Daily Show viewers. What they found was that 24 hour news channel viewers were the least informed about current events (they scored worse on a quiz). Basically with cable news it seems the more you watch the less you know. Late night viewers did better, but viewers of the Daily Show were the most informed.
Its why it is the number one choice for fake news.
Jon Stewart is apalled that his (extremely funny) comedy show is better at informing viewers then news shows. He knows that is wrong.
No Jokes or Spin. It's Time (Gasp) to Talk.Jon Stewart could not resist a last dig at CNN's "Crossfire" during his monologue on Comedy Central on Monday night . "They said I wasn't being funny," the star of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" said, rolling his eyes expressively. "And I said to them: 'I know that. But tomorrow I will go back to being funny," Mr. Stewart said, adding that their show would still be bad, although he used a more vulgar expression.
And that is why his surprise attack on the hosts of CNN's "Crossfire" was so satisfying last Friday. Exchanging his usual goofy teasing for withering contempt, he told Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson that they were partisan hacks and that their pro-wrestling approach to political discourse was "hurting America." (He also used an epithet for the male reproductive organ to describe Mr. Carlson.)
...
The transcript of Friday's "Crossfire," and the blog commentary about it, popped up all over the Internet this weekend. Mr. Stewart's Howard Beal (of "Network") outburst stood out because he said what a lot of viewers feel helpless to correct: that news programs, particularly on cable, have become echo chambers for political attacks, amplifying the noise instead of parsing the misinformation. Whether the issue is Swift boat ads or Bill O'Reilly's sexual harassment suit, shows like "Crossfire" or "Hardball" provide gladiator-style infotainment as journalists clownishly seek to amuse or rile viewers, not inform them.
When Mr. Carlson took the offense, charging that Mr. Stewart had no right to complain since he had asked Senator John Kerry softball questions on "The Daily Show," Mr. Stewart looked genuinely appalled. "I didn't realize - and maybe this explains quite a bit - that the news organizations look to Comedy Central for their cues on integrity." When Mr. Carlson continued to argue, Mr. Stewart shut him down hard. "You are on CNN," he said. "The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls."
Here's the Crossfire segment (if you have the bandwidth)
and here's Jon Stewart's followup on his next show "What did you do on Friday? I called someone a dick on national television." (quicktime and nice bandwidth required).
- rob 5:28 PM - [PermaLink] -
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