Jon Stewart vs CNBC

[tampa24]

For those of you who are fans of the Daily Show or CNBC (The 24 hour business channel) you know that today people around the watercoolers in corporate America are all tallking about last night's Daily Show. Last night Jon Stewart had on Jim Cramer because of a mini feud going on between Stewart and CNBC. Usually these "feuds" are very contrived publicity stunts designed to give both sides a bump in the ratings. Not so, this time.

Jim Cramer's guest appearance on the show was hyped by Daily Show to be a big showdown. It is one of the very few showdowns in television that lived up to every bit of the tacky hype. It was absolutely riveting, edge of your seat... and painful to watch at times. But you couldn't hardly take your eyes off it.

The current spat started when an analyst said some very deragatory remarks about homeowners who are in forclosure. Stewart took umbrage with that and invited him on the show to explain himself further. The guy accepted the invitation. Then he cancelled. As you guys may remember, John McCain did that to Letterman and then he never lived it down. It's very dangerous to cancel your guest spot on someone who has their own show and their own bully pulpit. LOL

The first video of the Daily Show shows what started the ball rolling.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=220252&title=cnbc-gives-financial-advice

The second video is the show with Jim Cramer as the guest. It has 2 versions on here. The first one is the one that aired on TV. The second version is the "uncensored" one that has an extra 8 minutes of the interview that ran over the 30 minute time format of the show.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=220533

These clips may take a few seconds to load. They may also have a commercial or 2 thrown in. If you have further trouble getting them to come up then try going to: thedailyshow.com

The mainstream news is likely to be dissecting the points brought up here for a while. So for those of you who haven't heard about what they discussed you are welcome to watch. These issues will be the cause of some national soul searching for possibly years to come.

 

[tucsonjayce]

Irony

Good thread. I find it ironic that a comedian would be the one to call a mainstream financial network on the carpet. I love Jon Stewart's show. I can laugh at some of the serious shit going on (and in small measure think about it). And He's the one that is talking about holding people accountable for what they were doing. Only in America.

One can only hope that someone, somewhere is paying attention and says,
DUH, I COULDA HAD A V8!!!!! Let's do something about this!

Let's laugh AND get serious about our troubles.

Love,

Jayce

 

[tampa24]

Amen to that Jayce! I want to keep things light but at the same time this very topical development fell into our laps. So I thought it worthy of mention. I do not intend to dive into any of the politcs of it. I figure it is fairly safe to let people opine about corporate America, Wall Street, banks, journalists who cover business and the like.

 

[Jayman01]

John Stewart hands down. I get all of the facts and a great laugh to boot. What is the point in hearing the CNN or MSNBC version? The CNN or MSNBC version just depresses me most of the time. At least when John Stewart tells me about it I get the news and I get to laugh in the face of death, sorrow, and woe.

 

[tampa24]

I think he's brilliant! There is so much intelligence in most of his opinions and off the cuff statements. He could have been a success in many different fields of work. He has such a sharp mind combined with a quick wit. Most hosts have the IMB plug stuck in their ear where they are being fed things to say. You can tell though that when he is interviewing people the things he says are very spontaneous. They are coming from him.

It's so odd that he's taking on something that the "serious" mainstream media treats like kryptonite. He doesn't have to put up the pretense of maintaining a journalistic objectivity. And he isn't under any obligation to give "equal time" to dissenting points of view. If he and the rest of the country know that a company has swindled the public he can say as much. Without having to let them trot out a paid PR person to rebutt his allegations and spout the company propoganda.

You go John!!

 

[tampa24]

The New York Times says that Jim Cramer's colleagues at CNBC are "furious" with him for not mounting a more vigorous defense of their reporting. What defense could he have offered? I'm happy that they are squirming. Stewart makes many good points that resonate with all of us. For instance how much journalism is actually going on over there at CNBC? They want to be taken very seriously as the leader of great business advice and up-to-date business trends here in the U.S. (And globally) Then they are caught completely unawares that the entire U.S. financial sector is teetering on collapse. They act like they are completely blindsided by the fact that all these arrogant, filthy rich CEO's have been lying to their reporters. GASP! Who knew they could do such a thing? And as if that alone excuses everything as far as CNBC's responsibilty as a news organization.

Are all reporters and analysts in all of the big networks' business news divisions just expected to read wire reports and internet chatter off a teleprompter? Is there no fact checking or research required to be a business new reporter? Is there no investigative journalism required if your field is business? CNBC is an easy punching bag but all the business divisions of mainstream media failed us on this.

This ranks right up there with the CIA not knowing that the Soviet Union was about to collapse until it already had.

 

[denver0102]

John Stewart hands down. I get all of the facts and a great laugh to boot. What is the point in hearing the CNN or MSNBC version? The CNN or MSNBC version just depresses me most of the time. At least when John Stewart tells me about it I get the news and I get to laugh in the face of death, sorrow, and woe.

I totally agree with everything you said. Bravo