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submaleinzona -> RE: NBC boss: Jon Stewart's criticism absurd, unfair (3/19/2009 6:38:06 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: cloudboy
One of Stewart's consistent points about TV NEWS and reporting is that its sourced (controlled by the White House, Wall St. etc.) and its slanted towards being entertaining and uncritical. Investigative, critical, and in depth reporting is largely absent from the TV airwaves. (Despite the 24 HR news cycle.)
According to Stewart, both Jim Cramer and the financial reporting industry should have done a better job.
Stewart's position is hardly unfair or absurd, but what is surreal is how these observations only seem to be made on comedy central. That's what's bizarre about the American newscape.
What's even more bizarre is that they didn't see this coming 25 years ago, when Comedy Central and CNBC didn't even exist. Doesn't anyone remember all the "America is better off" BS that was so pervasive in the elections of 1984, '86, and '88? Even though there were huge deficits and an official government policy of borrow-and-spend (not to mention outsourcing and the diminishing of our manufacturing and industrial base). Why pick on CNBC when there's enough blame to go around for all the media, particularly the major broadcast networks who were sitting on their hands throughout the past few decades? ABC, CBS, and NBC are more to blame than CNBC (or even Fox News for that matter). Those networks should have done a better job warning against fiscal irresponsibility, privatization, and deregulation way back in the 1980s, but they did NOTHING! Nothing, except make Reagan the Teflon President where he could do no wrong in the eyes of the media. Any criticisms of the Administration's fiscal irresponsibility or recklessness were met with cries of "Traitor" and "Communist" and "go live in the USSR if you don't like the free market." It's as if large segments of the population were in some sort of trance, with their minds controlled by the Cult of Ronald Reagan. That's why they were often called "Ronnie Robots" in those days, because they acted as if they had no free will whatsoever.
I also saw shades of that during the Clinton Presidency, as he also had a devout following which thought he could do no wrong (even though his economic policies were not much different from Reaganomics). Clinton was a Democrat in name only, as his economic policies and his support of NAFTA were more Republican-oriented than anything else. Clinton shamelessly flexed the Democratic Party muscle against any wayward blue-collar Democrats who were against NAFTA.
As for Jon Stewart, why doesn't he put his own boss, Sumner Redstone, on the hot seat? He's a much bigger shark and far more influential than anyone over at CNBC.
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