Daily Show destroys CNN for fact checking SNL but not their own guests.
This article is pretty self explanatory. CNN was more concerned about what SNL was doing and then wound up dropping the ball on themselves. Where does this leave CNN?
NB C-notes
-
From the WaPo:
NEW YORK -- The Society of Professional Journalists condemned NBC News for
practicing "checkbook journalism" by chartering a jet that carrie...
14 years ago
1 comment:
That's a great Daily Show clip - thanks for finding and posting it. I mostly agree that it's quite laughable for CNN to so diligently fact-check SNL but do very little checking on people they have on their programs. I say 'mostly' because I think there was some justification for probing the skit's accuracy. With Obama's poll numbers slipping, it probably seemed to the SNL writers like a good time to have some fun skewering his apparent minimal progress so far. It's easy to jump on the bandwagon of public discontent, which is something comedy and political satire often do. We as the audience rarely think deeply about how accurate are those jokes. Because of that tendency, I think it was appropriate for CNN to give a little perspective on the skit.
Watching the second part of that DS clip was even more insightful - Stewart rightly reveals how CNN lets its guests throw around a wide range of questionable numbers without challenge. Even more troubling is how they let those dubious statements linger as the final word before ending the discussion with a abrupt "we'll have to leave it there".
To me, that's the real value of Stewart's show - the way it deftly exposes the many bad habits of cable news shows and other mass-media forums. It's done in a very humorous way while also being thought-provoking.
Post a Comment