Stewart skewers CNBC
By Vincent Heeringa,
I couldn't watch Jon Stewart skewer the fiancial booster Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's Mad Money show last Friday night (NZ time). It was incredible TV and no surprise that other media have picked up on how powerful the episode has become. It supposedly was watched by Obama—and certainly by the blogosphere.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-12-2009/jim-cramer-extended-interview-pt--1What's so interesting is that Stewart, a comedian, is doing what we in the media should have: pointing out incompetence, deceipt and failure at the highest levels. He does it so well that he barely needs to say anything: just roll the tapes. As the Guardian puts it:
"Stewart forensically dissected [CNBC's] past mistakes, in which it made exuberantly bullish statements about the market and various investment banks shortly before they collapsed. Stewart added: "If I only followed CNBC's advice. I'd have a million dollars today—provided I'd started with $100m." Such is his influence, in the next days ratings for Mad Money went down 10 percent in the 25-to-54 demographic."
Stewarts' arch humour and hard working researchers combine to make him far more credible than the real news acnchors. The New York Times asked if he was the most trusted man in America.
The closest we have is Jeremy Wells' Eating Media Lunch and the Unofficial History of NZ. But that's unlikely to appear again now that TVNZ is shutting down operations.
Comments
Jared Bothwell
Over the last few months the 'media' has been running around looking for someone and everyone to blame for the current financial situation. Jon Stewart points out quite rightly that the media themselves should take part of responsibility for this mess. CNBC along with other media outlets have failed their audience while slavishly serving their masters. Hopefully this 'whack' to the side of the head will make them revaluate how they approach their editorial duties. It should also serve as a warning to all media outlets that they need to stick to the basic fundamentals of journalism. Maybe the US should nationalise their media as well?
Matt Cooney
State-run media, eh? That's always worked a treat.
Jared Bothwell
What about the BBC? - worlds largest broadcaster.
Matt Cooney
True enough, although in this instance the BBC wasn't really any better than other media. I guess you could point at Radio NZ too, and TVNZ, although I think all those institutions' independence is protected by the existence of an independent, free-ish press. It's when all media is state-owned that problems arise.
The bigger problem is that the basic fundamentals of journalism no longer pay the bills, at least for large, traditional media organisations. Needless to say, MSNBC isn't the answer, and perhaps the Daily Show partly is. Hope so!
Shane Pleasance
To whom are the media responsible? Public? Shareholders? Other media? Peers? Methinks the media will show what the public watches most. How does the standard of reporting here in NZ compare to those overseas? Say, in knowledge of economics or politics…
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