Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Cross-fired
If you missed the interchange between Jon Stewart and Tucker Carlson on Crossfire on Friday, you missed a lot. Stewart went on the show and basically stated that he thinks it's a crap show that doesn't really do much as far as news was concerned. He called Carlson and Paul Begalia hacks and for some reason they took umbrage.
The thing is, Stewart is right. Crossfire doesn't serve any purpose other than to titillate. At one time they might have taken an issue and tried to dissect it a bit to get to the heart of the matter, but now the shows are simply an excuse for a partisan fight. Every question aimed at the other side is a "gotcha" and at the end of thirty minutes no one walks away any wiser than before it started.
I'll give Stewart credit for having the guts to repeat on the show what he's said about it elsewhere. Although, I must say, thinking so little of the show, one wonders why he would go on it in the first place?
The best part of the whole show was Carlson's response. He mostly just parroted Stewart's criticisms back at him. He said that Stewart lacked journalistic integrity and that his show lacked a non-partisan feel that a news show should have. These are both spurious arguments considering the fact that The Daily Show is a comedy show. In truth, he's also wrong. Stewart's interviews with both sides of the political spectrum are always well thought out and often much more informative than the softball crap politicians get to answer on the "real" news networks.
Carlson's still yelling about Stewart and his comments, but he should just shut up. He can't win this, not only because he's not right, but also because he wears a bow tie. Hard to trust any man these days who wears a bow tie.
The thing is, Stewart is right. Crossfire doesn't serve any purpose other than to titillate. At one time they might have taken an issue and tried to dissect it a bit to get to the heart of the matter, but now the shows are simply an excuse for a partisan fight. Every question aimed at the other side is a "gotcha" and at the end of thirty minutes no one walks away any wiser than before it started.
I'll give Stewart credit for having the guts to repeat on the show what he's said about it elsewhere. Although, I must say, thinking so little of the show, one wonders why he would go on it in the first place?
The best part of the whole show was Carlson's response. He mostly just parroted Stewart's criticisms back at him. He said that Stewart lacked journalistic integrity and that his show lacked a non-partisan feel that a news show should have. These are both spurious arguments considering the fact that The Daily Show is a comedy show. In truth, he's also wrong. Stewart's interviews with both sides of the political spectrum are always well thought out and often much more informative than the softball crap politicians get to answer on the "real" news networks.
Carlson's still yelling about Stewart and his comments, but he should just shut up. He can't win this, not only because he's not right, but also because he wears a bow tie. Hard to trust any man these days who wears a bow tie.
