Posted on 12/02/2008 10:50:23 AM PST by My Favorite Headache
On last night's "Daily Show", Jon Stewart took aim at MSNBC for the network's continued slide toward what he sees as the same partisan cheerleading that one has witnessed over the past eight years at FOX News. Watch:
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=210922
While many liberals have hailed the rise of Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow as a long-overdue cable news counterweight to their ideological rivals on FOX, others, like Stewart, bemoan the further blurring of the line between news and commentary. The latter group decries the loss of objectivity in journalism. Left or right, it matters not who commits this crime. What's important is keeping the news, for lack of a better phrase, fair and balanced.
Somehow lost in this discussion is the fact that Bill O'Reilly and Olbermann are not news anchors, they are commentators. Sean Hannity and Rachael Maddow play different roles on television than do Katie Couric and Brian Williams. Really, the bloviating commentators who dominate the screen time at MSNBC and FOX, are nothing more than glorified bloggers. They have been hired to stir controversy and generate ratings. And guess what? They're popular.
For his part, when it comes to media critiques, Jon Stewart has always enjoyed having his cake while eating it, too. His show, after all, is based largely on political commentary, but with laughter, rather than angry rants, as its foundation. In fact, "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" exist on the same plane with "Hannity and Colmes" and the like, albeit at a different end of the aesthetic spectrum. When Stewart famously launched his takedown of CNN's "Crossfire," an incredulous Tucker Carlson demanded to know why he went easy on his Democratic guests (including John Kerry). His response? It's not his responsibility to play the journalist.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.aol.com ...
Considering the lack of ratings on MSNBC, I would say they’re pretty much a failure as well.
And the Daily Show is the same as the SeeBS Evening News. Both are pwned by Viacommie and both are as “factual” with their presentation of the news.
Fox News isn’t conservative (NEWS, not commentary).
It is just to the right of CNN just as CNN is to the right of CNN International.
With News Corp executives endorsing Kerry and Murdoch giving money to Hillary, they are hardly a voice of the Right Wing.
Agree completely with your post 20.
FTR, the author of this piece is David Knowles and he did an excellent job.
I should have read the whole thread - you summed up why Fox News is garbage. We’ve all seen the video where Murdoch was praising Obama. It should have been pretty clear where their loyalties lay when they were backing Rudy Giuliani - they lean to the left more than some will acknowledge. They pretend they are conservative, but if you looked at the majority of their stories, they are exactly as you say - tabloid.
Bill Maher is hands down the worst individual on television next to Keith Olbermann.
No doubt about it. Especially since that nutcase O’Donell left The View.
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