Why do people like Colbert and Stewart?
What is it about Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert that makes them so refreshing and attractive to a wide variety of viewers (including those so-important younger ones)? I would argue that, more than anything else, it is that they enthusiastically call bullshit.
Calling bullshit, of course, used to be central to journalism as well as to comedy. And we happen to be in a period in our history in which the substance in question is running particularly deep. The relentless spinning is enough to make anyone dizzy, and some of our most important political battles are about competing views of reality more than they are about policy choices. Calling bullshit has never been more vital to our democracy.
[...]
If mainstream-media political journalists don’t start calling bullshit more often, then we do risk losing our primacy — if not to the comedians then to the bloggers.
Emphasis added. If that happens, people will really have to respect mah authoritah! Seriously, the MSM should quit with the stenography. I'd rather listen to someone who comes out and clearly states their position rather than someone who claims "objectivity" and reports "both sides" of some "controversey" even though one side is clearly malarkey. Here's an illustration.
Hypothetical Press Conference:Democrat: "Um, no, 1 + 1 = 2"
Reporting on the Press Conference:
- MSM Reporter: Republicans and Democrats clash over meaning of arithmetic
- MSM Wise Pundit of Centrism: I agree with Lieberman and McCain that 1 + 1 = 2.8, and I think Democrats would be wise to stop their shrill insistence on the correctness of their answer lest they lose badly in 2008.
- Right Wing Blogger: Republicans came up with a higher number than the Democrat Party, and higher numbers are what our troops in Iraq need. Sometimes you wonder whether liberals want Al Qaeda to win.
- Progressive Blogger: Fucktard Republicans can't add. And the people who said #1 and #2 are wankers.
I've only known one MSM reporter, and this person got very annoyed with "taking notes while people lied" and is now no longer working in journalism. So my one personal anecdote supports Froomkin's contention that calling bullshit is just "not done". (By the way, MSM stands for "Main Stream Media", but I assume everyone who reads this already knows that.)
Comments
good writing - as good as Daily Show or Colbert Reporrrr! M
I have great respect for comedy writers. I was in a sketch comedy group in college, and getting funny material was very hard. We did one 45 minute show a semester, and it was hard making sure the whole thing was funny. I can't imagine trying to make a funny show every single day. Of course, they have a whole team of full-time writers, and a lot of material (e.g. Bush) to work with.
1 and 1 don't equal 3 yet. But they will in six months, if the American people don't lose their resolve.
Pat Robertson:
It is an abomination to add the same kind of number to itself.
Mitt Romney:
Why would 1 just add 1? Why not several?
I would consider that to be a low blow, if it weren't for...
1) Romney's smug aggressiveness in using religion to deny people's civil rights
2) The fact that the LDS apparently still can't really shake the polygamy tradition. Otherwise, why would the Salt Lake Tribune maintain a polygamy beat?
And the mainstream LDS church really strongly objects to polygamy (they have to precisely because of their history and reputation), but there are still a lot of people who heroically stay faithful to the true Prinicipal.
(...well, I'm one to mock. Sephardic Judaism technically allows polygamy too, though obviously it's pretty rare in practice in the West.)