What a joke-Traditional TV news is laughable compared to Jon Stewart's journalism

[babylonsister]

http://media.www.thebatt.com/media/storage/paper657/news/2007/06/19/Opinion/What-A.Joke-2916123.shtml

What a joke
Traditional TV news is laughable compared to Jon Stewart's journalism, says Rick Rojas
By: Rick Rojas
Issue date: 6/19/07 Section: Opinion


The Daily Show and broadcast news include all the same parts: a congenial anchor and a staff of correspondents on a flashy set, interviewing big name guests. The difference is one is a parody, while the other is the real deal - but deciphering which is which seems to become harder every day.

Jon Stewart, the host of The Daily Show, is the often pinned in the media as the Walter Cronkite for this generation of younger Americans - who we watch, who we get our news from, who we trust. Though such a contention is somewhat hyperbolic, it is a testament to how the media are failing us.

snip//

And the network executives wonder why they can't keep younger viewers. Last summer, CBS thought after the forced retirement of 76-year-old anchorman Dan Rather, it would be a time to spiffy up the newscast for the much-desired younger audience. Their solution: Katie Couric. In their minds, they revolutionized the CBS Evening News by bringing in more features such as "exclusive" photographs of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' baby, and an anchorwoman who has as less journalism gravitas than Stewart.

Couric is, no surprise, a colossal failure now with fewer viewers than Rather at his lowest point. Newscasts are going gaga over Paris Hilton, wasting airtime over an irrelevant airhead, analyzing a molehill as though it's a mountain. And, besides a few islands of sanity, such as Keith Olbermann, the TV viewer is left to watch Jon Stewart for hard-hitting questions and the competent analysis of current events - even if it does come from a comedian. All the while, TV news is giving Stewart a run for his money by being a parody of themselves.

[Cleita]

1. Ted Koppel keeps making an appearance as a giant talking

head and Brian Williams was the guest last night and he accused Jon of stealing their set design. It's true the jester has become the news anchor and the news anchors jesters.

[Catch22Dem]

2. I still like Koppel

Williams seems good natured enough, but I seem to remember something about him praising Limbaugh for something.

[Cleita]

4. Williams had his right wing talking points down pat. He had

just returned from Afghanistan and said it was wonderful.

[Catch22Dem]

3. Viewers can trust Jon Stewart

Like him or not (who wouldn't like him?) You know when you're watching TDS, the only it's serving is to be funny. He'll crack on an idiot Dem just as quickly as an idiot repuke, but the repukes are providing so much fodder these days that they're the focus of all the attention. Besides, they're pure fucking evil.

He's not serving a corporate master, and that's why he's able to be an honest, and even hard hitting, journalist.