Guardian UK: Jon Stewart and the crisis of journalism

[marmar]

Jon Stewart and the crisis of journalism
The Jim Cramer interview exposed financial journalism's failures. But we can't expect the media to follow Stewart's lead


Jack Balkin
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 17 March 2009 23.00 GMT


Jon Stewart's interview of Jim Cramer last Thursday was a remarkable example of what contemporary journalism isn't.

Many journalists probably wish they could do something like Stewart did, although perhaps a bit toned down: sit a subject in a chair and have at him with arguments, video clips and righteous indignation in the name of "the people" until the interviewee produces a weak and compliant mea culpa.

But one shouldn't take too much from the actual exchange between the two men. In an important sense, the outcome was rigged from the start. Stewart was aggressive, perhaps overly so, and Cramer was surprisingly passive and even apologetic; he took most of Stewart's criticisms without doing much in the way of fighting back. Had someone like Karl Rove sat in the chair opposite Stewart, the interview would not have gone the same way.

The reason we don't often see interviews like this on television is, first, that interviewees don't sit there and take accusations of this type – they fight back, spin, obfuscate or change the subject; and second, that if a contemporary reporter started laying into a subject the way Stewart laid into Cramer, no one would ever agree to an interview with that reporter again. It was a rare combination of circumstances that led Cramer to agree to sit still and listen to Stewart engage in his j'accuse. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/mar/17/stewart-cramer-interview-journalism

[Missy Vixen]

1. I appreciate what the author of the article is driving at

At the same time, the only reason why Cramer agreed to appear is because I'm sure he thought he'd mollify Stewart, he'd walk away scot-free, and that would be the end of it. He very much underestimated Stewart.

Most of those now refusing interviews or giving BS answers get away with it; they know they will, therefore, nobody presses. It's unfortunate that making nicey-nice is more important than actually getting facts.