Columnist Forgets Stewart Isn't a Journalist

Howard Kurtz’s weekly media column is usually a pretty good read as I find him to be fair, critical and interesting. However, his column on Feb.1 set off alarm bells in my mind for two reasons: Kurtz’s apparent confusion over Jon Stewart’s humor and political leanings and the failings of broadcast news. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/31/AR2010013102338.html)

First, I feel exasperated by the mainstream media’s apparent surprise that Stewart and the cast of “The Daily Show” are able to make fun of President Obama. There is always humor in power and politics. Have these reporters forgotten that Obama is just another politician? Writers for the Weekly Standard and FOX Nation questioned (perhaps somewhat tongue-in-cheek) whether the jokes were a sign that Stewart is not as liberal as we presumed. The director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs is quoted in Kurtz’s piece as saying, “He’s clearly become an important cultural arbiter. He’s pulled off the trick of being taken seriously when he wants to be and taken frivolously when he wants to be.” Yes, that’s because he’s a comedian.

Let me say that again – Jon Stewart is a comedian. NBC anchor Brian Williams is quoted as saying, “A lot of the work that Jon and his staff do is serious. They hold people to account, for errors and sloppiness.”

This brings me to the second issue that came up in Kurtz’s piece and that is what is happening at cable news networks. (I would distinguish between reporters and commentators but the fact that both FOX and MSNBC are readily identified by viewers and members of the media as conservative and liberal stations overshadows whatever objective reporting may actually be taking place at either network.)

To Williams’ point that Stewart and his crew of producers and interns are able to hold people accountable, why don’t the mainstream media do this more? Why does it take a half hour program on Comedy Central to show clips of politicians doing one thing and then doing (or voting) another? “The Daily Show” does not have access to any resources that aren’t already available to MSM outlets.

As to the quality of broadcast news, here are some of the clips recently shown on “The Daily Show”:

· Fox News hosts celebrating Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts;

· MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann referring to Brown as “an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model, tea-bagging supporter of violence against women;”

· CNN’s “best political team” displaying Twitter comments to evaluate the president’s State of the Union address (I would also add the fact that there were at least 10 “commentators” and “analysts” to break down the speech for viewers who were either too lazy or unengaged to draw their own conclusions); and

· MSNBC’s Chris Matthews saying that while he watched the SOTU, he forgot President Obama is black.

We would all be better off without cable news. News outlets that follow a script in the way of expectations and then report the news through the lens of those expectations offer nothing of value to viewers.

(This was originally a discussion post for a class at Medill; February 2010).