Minggu, 19 Juni 2011

As the young people say, Jon Stewart FTW.


I like Jon Stewart. If I still had cable, his show is one of the few things I would make time to watch. As it is, several websites I visit have clips of The Daily Show and I watch them several times a week.

Chris Wallace had him on as a guest on Fox News Sunday. As you might imagine, Mr. Wallace did not like the idea that he worked for a "relentless agenda-driven 24 hour news opinion propaganda delivery system". Stewart stood by these words.

Wallace did something a lot of newspeople do, criticized Stewart for not being a serious newsman. Stewart said the comparison was silly, that he is a comedian just as Will Rogers was, and that people take him seriously because they are disappointed in the news they get.

Wallace said Fox News viewers weren't in the least disappointed. Stewart said that poll after poll shows that they are the most consistently misinformed.

In other words, if they were bright enough to be disappointed, they'd be disappointed.

Wallace made the point that other news outlets are biased in the liberal direction. Stewart countered that the actual bias of the news media in general is not ideological, but weaknesses for conflict, sensationalism and laziness.

The Huffington Post had this story as the top of the page early this Sunday. They had a huge picture of Stewart, slightly grainy and looking somewhat upset, with a 48-point headline "YOU'RE INSANE!"

Let's see. Conflict, check. Sensationalism, check. Laziness, check.

I gave Mr. Wallace's quotes first and Mr. Stewart's quotes second because Stewart correctly countered everything Wallace brought up. Jon Stewart is one of my heroes. Chris Wallace is a corporate tool and he got owned on his own show.

Here endeth the lesson.

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