katiemac
10-10-2008, 07:59 AM
I think Jon Stewart has long been dead-on about his comments of the current media system's effect on news and politics, especially 24-hour networks.
These quotes taken from an interview with Stewart and Stephen Colbert (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20228603_1,00.html) in a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly. Stewart has made similar statements in the past to different outlets (USA Today, Crossfire).
EW: You guys regularly make a mockery of the 24-hour news networks. Do you see anything good in the format?
[clipped]
Colbert: There's not more news now than there was when we were kids. There's the same amount from when it was just Cronkite. And the easiest way to fill it up is to have someone's opinion on it. Then you have an opposite opinion, and then you have a mishmash of fact and opinion, and you leave it the least informed you can possibly be.
Stewart: We've got three financial networks on all day. The bottom falls out of the credit market, and they were all running around. On CNBC I saw a guy talking to eight people in [eight different onscreen] boxes, and they were yelling, "I don't know!" It'd be like if Hurricane Ike hit, and you put on the Weather Channel, and they were yelling, "I don't know what the f--- is going on! I'm getting wet and it's windy and I don't know why and it's making me sad! Maybe the president could come down and put up some sort of windscreen?" By being on 24 hours a day, you begin not to be able to tell what's salient anymore.
EW: Is this election any different from the last two you covered?
Stewart: I was convinced an Obama/McCain campaign would be measurably different on almost all standards. And to watch it become Bush/Kerry, Bush/Gore, has been on of the most dissatisfying experiences.
EW: Can anyone break through this [political] mess?
Stewart: I worry that those people are out there, but we won't recognize them--or we'll destroy them so thoroughly that their voice won't be heard. I just imagine Lincoln out there, and people throwing gay stuff at him. "And what about depression running in his family?"
Bolding in the above excerpt mine. Brackets are also my changes.
So, do you agree with any of the above statements or any part of their interview? If so, why does it take comedians to discuss the media for what it is?
These quotes taken from an interview with Stewart and Stephen Colbert (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20228603_1,00.html) in a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly. Stewart has made similar statements in the past to different outlets (USA Today, Crossfire).
EW: You guys regularly make a mockery of the 24-hour news networks. Do you see anything good in the format?
[clipped]
Colbert: There's not more news now than there was when we were kids. There's the same amount from when it was just Cronkite. And the easiest way to fill it up is to have someone's opinion on it. Then you have an opposite opinion, and then you have a mishmash of fact and opinion, and you leave it the least informed you can possibly be.
Stewart: We've got three financial networks on all day. The bottom falls out of the credit market, and they were all running around. On CNBC I saw a guy talking to eight people in [eight different onscreen] boxes, and they were yelling, "I don't know!" It'd be like if Hurricane Ike hit, and you put on the Weather Channel, and they were yelling, "I don't know what the f--- is going on! I'm getting wet and it's windy and I don't know why and it's making me sad! Maybe the president could come down and put up some sort of windscreen?" By being on 24 hours a day, you begin not to be able to tell what's salient anymore.
EW: Is this election any different from the last two you covered?
Stewart: I was convinced an Obama/McCain campaign would be measurably different on almost all standards. And to watch it become Bush/Kerry, Bush/Gore, has been on of the most dissatisfying experiences.
EW: Can anyone break through this [political] mess?
Stewart: I worry that those people are out there, but we won't recognize them--or we'll destroy them so thoroughly that their voice won't be heard. I just imagine Lincoln out there, and people throwing gay stuff at him. "And what about depression running in his family?"
Bolding in the above excerpt mine. Brackets are also my changes.
So, do you agree with any of the above statements or any part of their interview? If so, why does it take comedians to discuss the media for what it is?