After watching Jon Stewart's uncut, uncensored interview with Jim Cramer, I was surprised to find many people in the Daily Show Forums complaining. Of course there were quite a few who were proud of the interview as well, but there were more complaints than I expected.
People complained that Jon was too hard on Cramer, that it was bullying to use Cramer's own videotaped words against him, or that this serious interview wasn't as much fun to watch as the usual Daily Show fare.
Seeing those comments gave me the too familiar feeling of wondering if those viewers had watched the same interview that I had just watched. Many times Jon said that his ire wasn't aimed solely at Cramer. Jon's original show that sparked this "war" was directed at CNBC, not at Cramer.
Yes, it was a serious interview, but the country is in a serious mess. The so called "serious news" often condescends to viewers. As Cramer said himself, he thinks it is necessary to dumb down information for those watching his show and keep them interested with silly sight gags. For his part, Jon Stewart asserted that he would prefer to be telling jokes on his show, but he can't stand by while the "serious news" isn't giving us the real story.
By having Cramer on the show, Jon was giving him a chance to respond. He had clips on hand and used them to refute Cramer's excuses with his own prior words. That is not bullying. It is asking for accountability.
There are serious problems in our economy. This interview wasn't about finger pointing or laying the blame on one scapegoat. It was about discussing the problems with the stock market. It was about showing how insiders have used investors' long-term retirement money to fund their own short-term transactions, and why that is unethical. More specifically, it was about the news media's role in this situation.
Just as I was proud of Jon Stewart for asking Mike Huckabee the hard questions about his gay marriage stance, I was happy to watch Jon interview Jim Cramer.
Daily Show: Jim Cramer Interview Pt. 1
Daily Show: Jim Cramer Interview Pt. 2
Daily Show: Jim Cramer Interview Pt. 3
DragonCon 2010
4 hours ago
2 comments:
I can't wait to watch that interview when I get home. I enjoyed the Huckabee interview. While I wholly disagree with his views, I can at least respect him for accepting accountability and defending his views and not pretending otherwise. Too frequently the "serious news" is biased, slanted and takes things out of context, but purports to be reporting the news. Very frustrating.
I hadn't seen this. Thanks for posting. It's hard to tell the difference between a reporter, a journalist, and an entertainer - newspeople seem to shift between the titles when called to the carpet. kudos to stewart for being fair but aggressive, and cramer for keeping his cool and participating. It's ironic that people who supposedly bring things to light are so uncomfortable with accountability.
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