All Hail John Stewart!
Topic: You Call This News?
For the uninitiated John Stewart is the host of Comedy Central's Daily Show. Recently he was a guest on CNN's Crossfire and, well I will let Salon Magazines Charles Taylor take it from here:

Jon Stewart: Crossfire "hurting America"

"I think you're a lot more fun on your show," said Tucker Carlson to "Crossfire" guest Jon Stewart this afternoon. "And I think you're as much of a dick on your show as on any other," Stewart shot back. It wasn't the faux avuncularity we've come to expect from Stewart on "The Daily Show" but there, of course, he's playing a role. Here he was himself -- and he wasn't buying any of it.

From the moment Stewart sat down he made no secret of how repugnant he found the show. In fact, he said to Carlson and co-host Paul Begala that he had been so hard on the show he felt it was his duty to come on and say to their faces what he has said to friends and in interviews. What he said was that their show was "hurting America," and he was being only slightly hyperbolic. Stewart told them that when America needed journalists to be journalists they had instead chosen to present theater.

Carlson, trying to affect an air of dry amusement that a comedian would presume to lecture him, important pundit that he is, but looking as if his bow-tie were about to start spinning, could barely contain his outrage. In an absolutely mind-boggling moment, Carlson tried to counter Stewart's criticism by pointing out that during John Kerry's recent appearance on "The Daily Show," Stewart asked the candidate softball questions. "If you want to measure yourself against a comedy show," Stewart said, "be my guest."

Paul Begala tried to put a more conciliatory face on things by pointing out that theirs was a "debate" show. Stewart was having none of it. "I would love to see a real debate show," he said. And went on to tell them that instead of holding politicians' feet to the fire by asking tough question, "you're part of their strategy. You're partisan -- what's the word? -- uh, hacks."

It's almost a cliche by now to talk about "The Daily Show" being more trusted than real newscasts, but Stewart showed why. He pointed out to Carlson that he had asked Kerry if he really were in Cambodia but "I don't care," and when Carlson asked him what he thought about the "Bill O'Reilly vibrator flap," Stewart said, "I don't." It was as concise a demonstration of the triviality of the media as you could hope for.

"I thought you were going to be funny," Carlson said toward the end of the interview. Stewart responded, "No, I'm not going to be your monkey." And that was what was so bracing.

Stewart's "Crossfire" appearance is going to generate talk about how prickly he was, how he wasn't "nice" like he is on "The Daily Show." But prickliness is just what was needed. If you've built your reputation as a satirist pointing out how the media falls down on the job, you're not going to make yourself a part of their charade.

I've heard people talk about "The Daily Show" as an oasis of sanity, a public service. I couldn't agree more. Stewart's appearance on "Crossfire" was another public service. He went on and acted as if the show's purpose really was to confront tough issues, instead of being the political equivalent of pro wrestling. Given a chance to say absolutely what he thought, Stewart took it. He accomplished what almost never happens on television anymore: He made the dots come alive.

-- Charles Taylor
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Ahhhhhhhhhhh .... Good Times!

An Open Letter to CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and Fox News:
Topic: You Call This News?
I need some guidance because I have obviously missed some crucial moment in our country's zeitgeist. When did it come to pass that television journalism ceased to be credible and became nothing more than partisan lobbying? When did the legacy of Murrow, Cronkite, and Brinkley become, with very few exceptions, the domain of News Readers whose only apparent expertise is mugging for the camera while reading dogmatic press releases like they were the canon of the gospels? When did our "Custodians of the Truth" become complicit in validating rumor, ad hoc attacks, and hearsay at the behest of devious political leaders?

It amazes me that this presidential election will not be decided on the critical issues but rather on childish facial expressions and out of context soundbites. We, the voting public are being force fed daily proclamations on which candidate leads in polls without regard to their scientific credibility and in many cases totally ignoring the mathematical margin of error. How exactly this daily dose of distortion furthers our democratic process is anyone's guess save that the election for the most power man in the world is based less on the Jeffersonian ideal and more on "American Idol" criterion. Our next President will come to power without any of the major television news outlets doing anything other then regurgitating predigested factional soundbites. Have we as a country become that illiterate and shallow?

I am frank to say that the major television news networks should take a page from professional wrestling and rename themselves "News Entertainment". It is a disgrace that presumably plausible news anchors must refer people to www.factcheck.org ! It was my, (perhaps na?ve), impression that it was the their obligation to provide in depth reporting on distortions of issues and misrepresentations of the facts.

The American electorate is not without culpability in this. We as a country have become apathetic followers who would rather have dogmatic spin doctors bottle feed us our opinions rather then make the effort to assume our civic duty, (an antiquated concept I know), and educate ourselves on the real issues. I strongly suspect that the majority of our voting public has never actually read the platforms of either party or expanded their respective ideology beyond that of a single issue agenda.

It is a disgrace to every brave soldier who ever laid down their life in the name of liberty and freedom that their sacrifice has been reduced to the importance of "rock, paper, scissors" politics. We as a country should be mortified at our apathy and media journalists should be ashamed of their own self-absorbed hubris.

At the end of the day we as a people deserve the incompetent and spurious government we get.

This Blows!
Topic: You Call This News?
For those who do not know, I work in Safety Administration for La-Z-Boy Logistics. As such I have been closely following the track of hurricane Frances all week trying to anticipate how this will effect next weeks delivery schedule in the South East. Were it not for the gravity of the situation the images of network news people peppering the Florida beach fronts in their colorful little rain slickers would be amusing. I am convinced that they actually evacuated hundreds of thousands of Florida residents to make room for an equal number of field correspondents who have set up live feeds at 2 ft intervals up & down the coast, each one hoping against hope to be the one to catch that ever elusive shot of beloved characters plucked out of Disney World flying haplessly into the side of a crumbling luxury condo. While we may never know where Mickey or Minnie end up I think we ALL know where Goofy and Daffy are right now ... LOL! I don't mean to beat a dead horse here but didn't it seem that the news readers appeared upset when NOAA officials announced that the storm had weakened slightly? I guess 100 mph sustained winds don't compare to 110 mph sustained winds when it comes to good ratings share. I actually heard one of the Fox Network's News Waitresses ask a Hurricane Center Rep with a tinge of disappointment in her voice, "It could strengthen though, couldn't it"? Geez!