The Real Message: This Song Ain't About You

[Tuesday_Morning]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-sinker/this-song-aint-about-you_b_174851.html


Daniel Sinker: The Media Misses the Real Message of the Stewart/Cramer Interview

<snip>

Near the end of the interview (which, if somehow you haven't seen it, is worth watching), Cramer begins to weasel out an explanation to Stewart (the specifics are unimportant, but if you need to know it involved why Cramer utilizes banana cream pies in his financial program) when Stewart interrupts him and says, indignantly, "As Carly Simon would say, 'This song ain't about you.'" It was a point largely lost on Cramer, who continued to defend his own show against Stewart's much larger indictment, but it was also a point lost on the many media outlets that covered this basic cable dustup as actual, honest-to-god news.

You see, Stewart's real critique wasn't about Cramer, it was also only marginally about CNBC. Instead, Stewart's real rage comes from the role the modern media has created for itself: the role of cheerleader instead of watchdog, of favoring surface over depth, of respecting authority instead of questioning it.

It's the same critique that some have about the New York Times (and the rest of the media) in the leadup to the war in Iraq; the same critique lobbed every time a TV reporter does a stand up in front of the Apple Store before a product release; the same critique leveled every time a sensational murder steals a headline from a corporate crime: is this really the job we want the fourth estate to be doing?

<snip>

But none of (today's) stories--Ana Nicole Smith, Michael Jackson tickets, Michelle Obama giving an interview to Good Morning America--pass muster either. None of them address the issues of our time with the fearless tenacity that Stewart brings to his show most nights, and he's a comedian.

[pkdu]

1. And did you catch the little bombshell at 8m32s in Part2

Cramer: "I've told the Justice Bepartment ..here's how you get the indictments"..

This man is talking to the Feds..theres another shoe to drop...

[countmyvote4real]

2. That was my favorite part.

And I might use it. It fits a lot of situations and people I know.

[Tigress DEM]

3. Well put! Thanks for bringing this piece out.

We are into the press playing to Fluffy and Muffy mentalities or hammering on DEMs for spending money to pay off the debts the *ushies racked up. Oi!

[Celebration]

4. I may be one of the few here who actually think Cramer is okay

It doesn't mean I agree with everything he says or does. But I do think he (now) means well, and "gets" a lot of things. Yes, it is wrapped up in entertainment, yes CEOs come on his show and lie. And he is much too frantic for me to watch.

But he is far less a cheerleader than most of the others on CNBC. It seems to me he points out problems in the system quite a lot.

Undoubtedly, in the past he made money the same way most hedge fund managers made money--gaming the system. He admits it, but says he never broke the law.

I don't know. I think he mostly has mended his ways.

But don't get me started on Larry Kudlow!!

[tavalon]

5. Exactly!

This is the same man who went on Crossfire and begged them to start doing their job. They kept trying to get him to be funny but he was dead serious and really upset at the poor job these supposed journalists are doing. This has been a culmination of a long campaign for him. Somebody was musing to me about what Jon Stewart would do when Dubya was out and I said, turn on the media - they are the biggest ones at fault after the Bush adminstration. They aided and abetted that criminal regime.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

6. That is what I thought too

The corporate media is almost (and notice I said almost) as corrupt as the Bush admin. It is high time someone with some gusto went after them and I figured Stewart was the right guy for the job. I have a feeling that this is only the beginning. Everytime one of these things comes up, and if the past 8 years is any indication it will come up quite a bit, Stewart will be there holding these corrupt hacks accountable. This was the first shot across the bow.