The most brilliant thing about the Daily Show is that it amplifies the absurdity of American mass media and shows us just how cheap and ridiculous our corporatized public sphere has become.
Sometimes, though, the Daily Show is not only a parodied version of what the American news media is, but a fantastic model of what it could be.
Such was Jon Stewart's interview with Jim Cramer of CNBC.
A free press does not contribute to the health of a democracy if its primary concern is the advertising revenue generated by uninsightful, unreflective, brain-numbing 'infotainment.'
Stewart really hits the nail on the head when he asks, "Whose side is CNBC on?" and "What is the responsibility of the people covering Wall Street?"
The best part was when Stewart showed clips of Cramer qua hedge-fund manager giving out insider tips on how to generate tons of profit really fast through short-selling and deception and then said, “I want the Jim Cramer on CNBC to protect me from that Jim Cramer.”
Our news media has an important job, and sadly it seems that a satirical cable ‘news’ show is doing it better than our major networks.
My favorite quote from the program:
"CNBC could be an incredibly powerful tool of illumination for people who believe that there are two markets: one that has been sold to us as long-term (“Put your money in 401ks, put your money in pensions, and just leave it there. Don’t worry about it. It’s all doing fine.”), then there’s this other market, this real market, that’s occurring in the back room, where giant piles of money are going in and out and it’s transactional and it’s fast but it’s dangerous, it’s ethically dubious, and it hurts that long-term market. So what it feels like to us – and I’m speaking purely as a layman – it feels like we are capitalizing your adventure by our pension and our hard earned [money], and that it is a game that you know, that you know is going on, but that you go on television as a financial network and pretend isn’t happening." - Jon Stewart
See the extended, unedited interview here:
1 comment:
I think the real genius of the Daily Show is that it has found a way to be profitable despite the fact that its content and perspectives would be rejected by other media outlets as unprofitable. I suppose that's the advantage of labeling this a "comedy" show.
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