The Jon Stewart Decade

http://nymag.com/arts/tv/profiles/68086/

by ziweb • 16 years ago

80 75 16 years ago

nymag.com

tzury• 16 years ago

single page version http://nymag.com/print/?/arts/tv/profiles/68086/

iamclovin• 16 years ago

Thanks for this!

andreyf• 16 years ago

America's politicians, willingly or not, often seem like they’re actors in scripts created by cable producers.

But that's what they are to most people. Literally.

Most people's only perception of politicians is one as disobedient actors in the production of a television show, a truth that's been with us since Kennedy. Politics is, and always will be, a part of infotainment, because news story economics work by the same principles as all other stories on TV.

But think twice before you think the of the reflexive "the internet will change everything". No - a lot has changed, but the vast majority of people will still want and watch the kick-in-the-nuts-humor over NPR, Democracy Now, or The American Conservative, just as they've been doing for decades.

jameskilton• 16 years ago

Here here! John Stewart does Glenn Beck was the BEST piece of satire TV we've had in a decade.

I'm ever thankful of Stewart and Colbert, always reminding us that frankly, life is too short to be so up-tight serious about everything.

w00pla29• 16 years ago

John Stewart’s show is probably the worst show that someone could create. He does not even attempt to be objective. A large part of 20 somethings use this as their main news source. It is sad when people are not willing to watch news for news’ sake (instead of having it mixed with comedy – like a child gets medicine mixed with syrup).

And whilst the Daily Show serves as the main news source for many of 20 somethings, it does not even try to be objective. It often cuts video tapes completely (usually making fun of someone whose ideology differs from that of the viewers), uses video out of context, have interviews under false pretences and does not give fair coverage. Yet the excuse for that is that “it is a comedy show and not a news show”. It must choose, either one or the other – either it is a news show (and should subscribe to journalistic ethics) or it should be a comedy show (and try and involve itself in politics).

mkr-hn11• 16 years ago

You're making a lot of claims that don't make sense.

"A large part of 20 somethings use this as their main news source."

I'm a 20 something and know quite a few of them. You'd think that if this were true, my group of 50 or so would show at least one who treats TDS as anything more than a comedy show. They may use it as a starting point for stories they didn't know about, but you would be laughed out of the room if you tried to claim any portion of them treated Jon Stewart as a news man.

"It often cuts video tapes completely (usually making fun of someone whose ideology differs from that of the viewers), uses video out of context, have interviews under false pretences and does not give fair coverage."

Just like a comedy show. Even "news" shows do this, so I don't see why you single out TDS for it.

" It must choose, either one or the other – either it is a news show (and should subscribe to journalistic ethics) or it should be a comedy show (and try and involve itself in politics)."

Again, why single out TDS? All comedy shows dip into politics, and do a poor job of representing things.

w00pla29• 16 years ago

> I'm a 20 something and know quite a few of them.

Quite a few of my friends view this as a "serious" news show. If you do not believe this, look at any large social site such as Reddit (where the Daily Show is taken as a serious news source).

> Just like a comedy show.

Of interviews with politicians which they obtained under false pretences? The objective of the Daily Show is to make one ideological grouping laughable. It is inherently a political show that parades as a “quasi-news” show and uses the “comedy show” excuse so that they do not have to show any integrity (journalistic or otherwise).

> Again, why single out TDS? All comedy shows dip into politics, and do a poor job of representing things.

That is quite debatable. Most “comedy shows” do not dip into politics. If it is, it is mostly human interest (and around election time).

The Daily Show also parades around CNN International (a “news network”). Why is it on this channel then?

But I guess that this is just how real journalism fades. Papers become bankrupt whilst people read online “news sources” such as Huffington Post or Alternet. News networks like CNN become Twitter Crazy and airs shows like The Daily Show.

binarymax• 16 years ago

According to the article, there is a 1.8 million viewer base per night. So a large part of 20-somethings is innacurate. Maybe a large part of 20-somethings you know?

In any case, this line is a brilliant response to your claim:

“We’re not provocateurs, we’re not activists; we are reacting for our own catharsis,” Stewart says. “There is a line into demagoguery, and we try very hard to express ourselves but not move into, ‘So follow me! And I will lead you to the land of answers, my people!’ You can fall in love with your own idea of common sense.

w00pla29• 16 years ago

I guess I will be heavily downmodded today.

> According to the article, there is a 1.8 million viewer base per night.

It gets viewed more often than that (through video streaming). It also appears on CNN International at different times (WTF?). Many people also watch it irregularly.

> In any case, this line is a brilliant response to your claim:

He just confirms what I've said, but put it more eloquently.

> And I will lead you to the land of answers, my people!’

> You can fall in love with your own idea of common sense.

Usually rational people form conclusions (i.e. reaches answers to questions) based on an objective discussion from all angles/sides to a story. Does this happen on the Daily Show? No. Does the Daily Show go into depth (from all sides) to complex and important news topics, allowing the viewer to come to his own nuanced conclusion? No.

Does it quote people out of context, have interviews under false pretences, cut tapes to put people in bad light, add questions which the interviewee was never asked and break all rules of journalistic ethics? Yes.

The idea of the Daily Show is simple – they would make fun of groups such as the Republican Party (through some of the methods above). Their audience laugh – not because it was really funny, but because it reinforces their own ideological bias.

PS: I am not American, and that show completely irritates the hell out of me. The whole of CNN for that matter went down the drain. If you want (somewhat good) television journalism, it seems that only Al-Jazeera can provide it.

IgorPartola• 16 years ago

I am a 20 something and my main news source is Hacker News :). By that, I mean that I try to avoid conventional news sources on purpose. As far as I can tell news divides into two categories: sensationalist murder stories (which depress me) and political theater (which mostly bores me). Having said that John Stewart to me is just like Bill O'Reilly but funny.

ugh• 16 years ago

Who told you that politics is off limits for comedy? I have literally never ever heard that sentiment expressed.

krschultz5• 16 years ago

Hundreds of years of political satire (cartoons, opinion pieces) agree with you.

vaksel3• 16 years ago

1. According to a study, Daily Show viewers are more informed about current events than those that watch FOX, CNN, etc.

2. They are a comedy show, so it's ok to do that(even though they don't abuse that). FOX on the other hand does more than that, and they are supposed to be a news channel. i.e. take that Hannity clip from a few days ago: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-september-9-2010/are-y... (fast forward to 5 minutes)

3. Everything doesn't have to be objective, just because you have a scientist on talking about evolution, doesn't mean you have to bring in someone who wants to talk about creationism. This whole "balanced" reporting that you want is one of the reasons all these fringe nut jobs get their legitimacy. "Of course the president was born in Kenya....I saw someone say that on a news show".

DanielBMarkham3• 16 years ago

According to a study, Daily Show viewers are more informed about current events than those that watch FOX, CNN, etc.

Would love to see a source for that statement. If true, it's very interesting.

chime• 16 years ago

> Oh, Stewart & Co. enjoy a lowbrow laugh as much as the folks over at South Park; heck, next week they’re publishing a book that includes some excellent masturbation jokes. But Stewart and The Daily Show became America’s sharpest political satirists by aiming at least a little bit higher.

Oddly coincidental that if Matt Stone & Trey Parker of South Park fame read this, their response would be "Thanks for the kick in the nuts." As per one of their video interview, this is their usual response to when people categorize them into the same bucket as Family Guy by saying something like "South Park and Family Guy are the only shows I love." Why does the author feel the need to compare South Park and Daily Show, so as to make Daily Show come on top? I would rate both of these shows as the best of their respective genres, neither aiming higher or lower than the other.

skalpelis• 16 years ago

Perhaps the South Park and Daily Show comparison is just there because they both are running on Comedy Central.

DannoHung• 16 years ago

It would be a blatant lie to say that South Park doesn't use gross out humor as one of it's primary tools.

Scott Tenorman Must Die is still their best episode ever.

chc• 16 years ago

As the article noted, both South Park and The Daily Show use gross-out humor. But the article implies that South Park stops there while The Daily Show does grand political satire, when (as the GP notes) South Park's satire is on roughly the same level. Family Guy would have been a better comparison.

vinhboy• 16 years ago

I read the entire article just for this line

"There’s discussion of a possible Stewart-Colbert public event, a parody of Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally. “Maybe we would do a ‘March of the Reasonable,’ on a date of no particular significance,” Stewart says."

If you guys haven't heard, we are trying to start a reddit powered pseudo-revolution and I am really glad that this bit made it into this story.

lzw10• 16 years ago

I wonder if you guys realize that to republicans, Rush Limbaugh is a comedian. He tells jokes, and when criticizing him to republicans, they will often say he is just making fun.

Jon stweart is the rush limbaugh of The left. And thus as appropriate on hacker news as limbaugh.

I'd like to talk about startups and technology, why do leftists keep posting leftist news stories here and then down voting everyone who doesn't goose step along with them?

I know the answer, but I wish you would keep that kind of activity in reddit/r/politics. Not here.

js2• 16 years ago

Just flag it:

Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon.

dogas• 16 years ago

As much as I love the daily show (and the article was nice too), this does not belong on HN.

krschultz5• 16 years ago

"On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. "

I found the article to be very interesting, and apparently so did many others. Not everything on here needs to be 100% about startups, programming, or business.

The Jon Stewart Decade

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