Two years ago when Jon Stewart appeared on Crossfire he pleaded with CNN to stop airing crap and to start covering things seriously. Tucker Carlson attacked Stewart saying "Why not ask him a real question, instead of just suck up to him?" Jon Stewart came back with "I didn't realize that -- and maybe this explains quite a bit is that the news organizations look to Comedy Central for their cues on integrity." and " You're on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls."
Most people I know that watch the Daily Show are amazed at how informed they can be from watching it. Jon Stewart is always the first to point out that The Daily Show is not a news show but is comedy. A study at Indiana University has shown that The Daily Show is just as substantive as traditional news shows. Isn't that frightening? It's probably more accurate to say that traditional news shows have the substance of a comedy show.
I heard an NPR piece the other day about American politics becoming so fractured that people have their own language and their own sources of news. Conservatives get news from Fox, liberals from CNN. If you talk about Iraq you're a liberal, if you talk about the war on terror you're a conservative.
I think part of the problem is that objective journalism seems to have gotten to the point where they've stopped reporting facts and just present a forum for both sides to present their arguments. If one side lies, it's up to the other to say so, and if they don't, or are cut off for time, or retort with their own lies, then the lies stand. While many things are opinion, many things are actually facts and some things are just wrong. But the news doesn't point that out. As such, people think they can believe whatever they want, whether right or wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment