Stewart on Crossfire
If you didn’t see Jon Stewart of The Daily Show on CNN’s Crossfire today, you must do so. It was intense. He did that “sad little man” thing, where he talks painfully honestly about what’s wrong with TV news coverage, but he went with it for pretty much the entire program, rather than just the few seconds he normally does.
My favorite part was this:
CARLSON: I do think you’re more fun on your show. Just my opinion.
(CROSSTALK)
CARLSON: OK, up next, Jon Stewart goes one on one with his fans…
(CROSSTALK)
STEWART: You know what’s interesting, though? You’re as big a dick on your show as you are on any show.
(LAUGHTER)
I was, like, my God, did he just say that?
Anyway: BitTorrent download info. And for the bandwidth challenged, the CNN transcript.
October 24th, 2004 at 9:26 pm
It’s the Comedy, Stupid.
Damien Cave of the NY Times asks if Jon Stewart is being coy by claiming that because The Daily Show is a comedy show that he’s not required to take on politicians with hard questions.
“Whether he likes it or not, Mr. Stewart’s mix of news and satire has become so successful that the comedian is suddenly being criticized for not questioning his guests with Tim Russert-like intensity.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/weekinreview/24cave.html
Cave notes that “some critics” charge that the size of Stewart’s audience should force Stewart to change his soft-peddling ways, given the responsibility that comes with such a large audience. After all, many of his viewers don’t watch the news. Stewart needs to step up to the plate and make sure that his comedy show doesn’t leave his audience in a lurk when it comes to hard hitting and balanced news coverage.
Cave’s point, and the point to his article, is stupid. It’s stupid to suggest that Stewart is bound by any journalistic creed. Stewart is a comedian. He is not a journalist. Journalists aren’t supposed to be comedians, and comedians aren’t journalists.
Stewart is an entertainer. His job is to get people to watch his show by making them laugh. He also gets a larger audience by getting attention for the show. Stewart builds his audience by getting attention from big guests and by promoting the show through the news media. Since there is no pretense to be doing anything other than this, Stewart is not bound by any journalistic standards.
Cave, and the media critics in his article, missed Stewart’s Crossfire point. Rather than ask why doesn’t Stewart-the-comedian act like a journalist, they should be asking why hell did Crossfire have a comedian on its show in the first place. And if Crossfire is just theater, then why does Cave and others treat it like journalism? This was Stewart’s point, and it was a good enough point to draw 1.7 million to hear it on the Crossfire clip. Just because it’s funny to note how stupid the media has become, doesn’t mean that Stewart should start being being a journalist. That would just be stupid – not funny.