Jon Stewart on the mainstream media

Hell, they could do a Barack Obama marathon! Yeah, like that would ever happen. No agenda at all...

 

First of all, he has done that to Obama. And he's doing it more and more.

Secondly, you're trying to make the same argument Wallace was making: You're trying to equate TDS with Fox News. They are two very different things. One is political, media and social satire (yes, usually, but now always, with a liberal slant) and the other claims to be a "fair and balanced" news organization. Stewart admits he has an agenda -- being part of a long history of satire, while Fox pretends that it doesn't have an agenda.

 

I think Stewart's primary agenda is to be funny.

He's liberal. Does that mean he won't make fun of Obama? He's ragged on him a lot lately.

I know it was a long time ago, but I remember a comment he made to John Kerry right before the 2004 election about how he really hoped that he wins or something like that that just pissed me off and showed his obvious bias. I think Stewart said in the RS interview that it was something he immediately regretted saying.

More than anything else, I think he's funny. Is he biased? Sure, but we all are to some extent. It's pretty easy to peg which late-night talk show hosts skew a little more conservative than others and which ones go the other way.

 

The thing about Stewart is that his show is more often less about skewering the politicians themselves, but about skewering the coverage of them.

 

I don't know about any of his other viewers, but it's rare that the show informs me about something I didn't know about. I'm watching it to see his humorous take on those events I already heard about straight.

Also, I second the notion that TDS is more about satirizing news coverage than it is about satirizing newsmakers.

 

I know he got some criticism over the Anthony Weiner coverage that early on, they didn't do enough with it, which bothered some because he and Stewart are friends going back 20+ years. It's safe to say they more than made up for it in following shows. Stewart had a look on his face that seemed to say, "I'm sorry that I know this clown..."

I know I've said this on other threads, but the best TV out there is when Stewart is on O'Reilly or when O'Reilly is on TDS. There is no way in hell those two don't like each other.

 

On that last point, I would agree. I think it's because each gets what the other is doing. Chris Wallace, in the full 24-minute interview, shows he (or whoever wrote the questions) has no idea. Part of the reason Fox is so easy for Stewart to satirize is because everyone on that network takes itself so damn seriously.

By the way, if you want more evidence for Stewart's point that the 24-hour news networks focus more on fluff, laziness and sensationalism, Stewart got six minutes, 11 seconds more time than the Secretary of Defense. Who is fighting three wars.

 

I watched Meet the Press for the first time in a while - it was telling that they gave one segment to Durbin and Graham together and spent the rest of the time yakking amongst themselves.

 

The last time Stewart was on The Factor, I could have sworn Stewart winked and smiled at O'Reilly.

Those two together equals great TV.

 

Stewart's media critiques over the years have been dead-on perfect.

But what he's saying isn't new. Don Henley had a No. 1 hit in the early 80s with a song about the same stuff.

 

Jon Stewart made a fortune making bad jokes about a turbulent and unfunny epoch. Now he's on the lecture circuit.

 

It's interesting to see how Stewart evolved. When his show started he looked terrified and struggled with guests; now he is the puppet master of all news television (which is ironic).