Yes, the whole thing has been overblown. No, it doesn't really matter. Yes, Jon took some cheap shots, easy to do on his home turf. But to be honest, I agree with everything he's ever said about the news media, both the other night with Jim Cramer (the extended version online is worth watching, btw) and a few years ago on Crossfire. The reaction has been great for both pure entertainment purposes and serious analysis of Jon's role in this crazy world.
Highlights:
Andrew Sullivan @ The Atlantic ("what Stewart has done is rip off that little band-aid of faux solidarity for a modicum of ethical and moral accountability")
"Tim F." @ some blog called Balloon Juice ("For a reason that escapes me, people who are paid to understand politics all seem to think that “access” to people with a PR staff will get them some special insight when the only difference between speaking to them anonymously and asking their spokesperson is that the person can lie and most people will never know. Naturally the public would know if you called him on it, but then he wouldn’t take your calls. Catch 22!")
Bruce Watson @ Daily Finance ("[Stewart] is, effectively, America's fool. In the classic context, a fool was the only one in a king's court who could speak the truth because he was also the only one capable of making it palatable")
Megan McArdle, also @ The Atlantic (she has the problem that many do with Stewart - that he can basically say whatever he wants and then retreat to "don't take it seriously; it's a comedy show." I have no problem with this - people should be able to distinguish news from entertainment, even when they begin to resemble each other - but I'd be interested in what you guys think)
Yes yes I want to sleep to Jon Stewart. Whatever, I have no responsibility to be objective here. I will, however, quit plugging Comedy Central for a while.
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Tucker Carlson is still sore
ReplyDeleteUgh. He seems to making the same point as McArdle, above, which they and every other conservative commentator find revolutionary: Jon Stewart has become more than a comedian, and thus should be held to a new standard. No matter what Jon does though, the fact that he claims no authority, no objectivity, no journalistic integrity makes all of this moot. Tucker, on the other hand, actually asks people to listen to him and follow his "expert" advice (like Jim Cramer and other "experts"), which is why we can't give him a "free pass" - people know not to take a show on Comedy Central seriously, but CNN, not so much. His whole bit about Jon getting "the longest free pass in history" is just bizarre - so every celebrity he and Fox News have neglected to lampoon has gotten a "free pass"?
ReplyDeleteAlright, I guess I'm done preaching to the choir now...on a side note, though, TDS has been great to watch lately thanks to its chronicling of Glenn Beck's hilarious, somewhat frightening slide into "Obama is killing America" - fueled madness.
OK, I haven't read those articles and really I just don't have time to, so I may rehash what they've said ... I'm probably most closely aligned with the "court jester" argument.
ReplyDeleteAm I allowed to say "the proof is in the pudding?" I don't get this whole "free pass" thing. See, I don't care if good journalism makes no claim to being good journalism (see Jon Stewart or if bad journalism makes a claim to being good journalism (see NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC, etc.). The journalism should stand on its own merit.
And as far as the free pass, I don't really think he's gotten one, especially on the Cramer interview. I've kind of lost my train of thought here, but the other thing I was going to say is that I don't think he gets to fully say that he doesn't have to have any integrity - his show is actually pretty informative as far as the news goes, and when he's making a political point, which he often does, he has a responsibility to put video clips in context, etc., and I think with this he does fine. I don't really know why I'm still going when I don't know why I'm still going, so I'm done. Sorry.
I did have a long email conversation about this with a coworker which I may reproduce here in some form or another.