TIME: Now that Walter Cronkite has passed on, who is America's most trusted newscaster?

[kpete]

POLL RESULTS: http://www.timepolls.com/hppolls/archive/poll_results_417.html

[derby378]

1. Jon Stewart really isn't a "newscaster," is he?

He's wonderful, don't get me wrong, but he's satirizing the news. People just appreciate his comedic take on the day's events, and so do I. But he's not the next Ed Murrow.

[meegbear]

2. I agree

[Oregone]

4. "People just appreciate"

No, its more than that. His focus on the idiocy of the news (or politicians) is often laced with honest, original, and intriguing talking points. In interviews, it constantly challenges and rejects tired logic and outright lies. While comedy and satire are his method of delivery, Jon brokers honesty. While he is not a newsman, but an entertainer, he is most certainly a trustworthy entertainer who talks about the news.

[Rob H.]

9. You should've seen him dish up a heapin' helpin' of red-ass

to Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala on Crossfire. It was a thing of beauty. Full transcript is here or you can see it on YouTube. (All emphases added by me.)

STEWART: See, the thing is, we need your help. Right now, you're helping the politicians and the corporations. And we're left out there to mow our lawns.

BEGALA: By beating up on them? You just said we're too rough on them when they make mistakes.

STEWART: No, no, no, you're not too rough on them. You're part of their strategies. You are partisan, what do you call it, hacks.

--snip--

CARLSON: Didn't you feel like -- you got the chance to interview (John Kerry). Why not ask him a real question, instead of just suck up to him?

STEWART: Yes. "How are you holding up?" is a real suck-up. And I actually giving him a hot stone massage as we were doing it.

CARLSON: It sounded that way. It did.

STEWART: You know, it's interesting to hear you talk about my responsibility.

CARLSON: I felt the sparks between you.

STEWART: I didn't realize that -- and maybe this explains quite a bit.

CARLSON: No, the opportunity to...

(CROSSTALK)

STEWART: ... is that the news organizations look to Comedy Central for their cues on integrity.

--snip--

STEWART: It's not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery. And I will tell you why I know it.

CARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniff his throne and you're accusing us of partisan hackery?

STEWART: Absolutely.

CARLSON: You've got to be kidding me. He comes on and you...

(CROSSTALK)

STEWART: You're on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls. What is wrong with you?

--snip--

STEWART: You know, the interesting thing I have is, you have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.

CARLSON: You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think.

STEWART: You need to go to one. The thing that I want to say is, when you have people on for just knee-jerk, reactionary talk...

CARLSON: Wait. I thought you were going to be funny. Come on. Be funny.

STEWART: No. No. I'm not going to be your monkey.

BEGALA: Go ahead. Go ahead.

STEWART: I watch your show every day. And it kills me.

CARLSON: I can tell you love it.

STEWART: It's so -- oh, it's so painful to watch. You know, because we need what you do. This is such a great opportunity you have here to a actually get politicians off of their marketing and strategy.

CARLSON: Is this really Jon Stewart? What is this, anyway?

STEWART: Yes, it's someone who watches your show and cannot take it anymore.

--snip--

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.

[gmoney]

13. "You're on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls."

Best line of the interview.

[derby378]

15. I remember seeing that live on CNN

It was truly a thing of beauty.

[pepperbear]

10. you don't get the irony that a comedian is considered to be the most

trusted newscaster in the country?

[NashVegas]

3. A Shame They Didn't Offer Ellen Goodman As a Choice

[dgibby]

16. Um, I think that's Amy Goodman, not Ellen. n/t

[NashVegas]

21. Oops

Yes. Ellen's the pundit, yes?

[rocktivity]

5. If people "trust" Jon Stewart more than "real" newscasters

it's because what he and Colbert do is not "fake" the news, but point out how fake the REAL news is. Truth is at the core of what they do, not spin.

Example: Right after Obama's presser last night, Tweety and Howard Fineman decided that since he'd said "nothing new" about health care, his reaction to the arrest of the black Harvard professor in his own home was the "bigger" story. Since their employers will lose advertising revenue if the reform goes through, they have a stake in faking the story. Stewart does not.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[omega minimo]

19. "Truth is at the core of what they do, not spin."

They provide a service people used to have to do for themselves -- sort out reality from all the crazymaking. Now the level of professional obfuscation is off the charts.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

6. Amy Goodman.

Except that few people see or hear her.
I used to listen to her in the mornings on my local Pacifica station.

KPFT-FM is the ONLY bright spot in the Houston media market.

[Echo In Light]

8. I value a small handful of similar journalists, but I'd go w/Amy too

[G_j]

14. yep

:thumbsup:

[kjackson227]

7. Is KO considered a newscaster? Anyway, I'd choose him.

[Javaman]

11. John Steward was the first one that came to my mind and ironically

he's not a "news caster".

Kind of puts a very fine point on the weak state of the news reporting in this nation.

The Daily Show is this era's Laugh In.

[Dulcinea]

12. Clearly the deities have a sense of humor.

Did anyone catch Brian Williams on TDS earlier this week? Good stuff!

[omega minimo]

17. Parody of reality is now realitiness.

[Jennicut]

18. Jon is a political comedian but cuts through the BS with truth.

People appreciate someone who is straight with them.

[omega minimo]

20. "Newscaster"? WTF?

Cronkite was "America's most trusted journalist."

So in the heading and premise of their poll, it's switched now to "newscaster"? Because "journalist" no longer applies?

The Brits say "presenter" -- when did we start saying "newscaster"?

We have always been at war with Eurasia.

[Spike89]

22. We used to label commentators

To differentiate them from the journalists. Now, virtually everything on the "news" networks is commentary. These shows have guests on, not witnesses or reporters. Even that staple of "newsiness" television, the onsite reporter doing a stand-up report has degraded into mostly auditions for the pundit spot as these "reporters" almost never deliver facts or interview witnesses anymore, instead, they merely give their opinion of what happened.

Television is not a good venue for delivering news, but papers and radio are dying for a variety of reasons and we're left having to attempt to glean news by deconstructing the filters and biases of the pundits. It's a scary time when all the respected journalists on a list are anything but journalists.

[omega minimo]

23. Very well put. It's a scary time when people have to look elsewhere than "the news" for news