Jon Stewart: FNC's Fair & Balanced Claim an Insult "To People With Brains"

Satire has always been used to convey the hard truth. Kings kept jesters to present hard truths in a humerous fashion because others were forbidden to do so.
 
AngryZealot said:
No, now you are making non sequiters. I never said or even implied that the FOX viewers were stupid.
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Perhaps I jumped to a conclusion then.

My impression is that what John Stewart was saying. Not that I am offended...I watch CNN too.

~Chris
 
ShannonCT said:
Exactly. So do pirates. Most pirates happen to have been born hundreds of years ago when global temperatures were lower.
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Someone doesn't know a thing or two about pirates
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates#Modern_piracy
"Reports of piracy attacks were declining worldwide since 2004, but seems to have bottomed out in 2007.[35] Figures reported by the International Maritime Bureau indicate incident reporting fell for the third year in a row in 2006. Ships reported 239 incidents to the IMB during the year 2006, down from 276 in 2005, and 329 in 2004.[36] But the piracy rose by 14% in the first nine months of 2007.[35]"

Hardly the '17' on that chart.
 
To all the posters screaming "BUT LESC CNN IZ BIASED 2, LOL" why don't you read past the part I quoted where it includes Jon Stewart saying something to the effect of "all the networks are bad, it's just FOX is the worst"? Or did you guys miss his Crossfire appearance from a few years back when he slammed the network?
 
Since I've been mostly silent, I'll say I agree with that. If the major news networks were women, they'd all be ugly, but CNN would be like a 2.3 and FOX a 1.5 or so. I think CNN is far more balanced than FOX from what I've seen of the two, although I haven't watched FOX seriously in a few years, and only watched CNN lately for a few nights during the primaries, so take that for what it's worth.

I don't think simply having people on from different viewpoints is enough to make something "balanced". Framing is huge, as is choosing specifically which people come on. You can get to the point where, even though you're bringing on opposing viewpoints, you get balance in name only. The actual level of discourse is important, too. Do the various sides just yell at each other and fling sound bytes around or do they engage in long, thought-provoking, level-headed discussions? In both CNN and FOX's cases I'd say the former is far more the norm, which FOX again dragging down the average.

I find all the 24/7 news stations full of partisan rubbish that pander to the lowest common denominator. I don't see any real value in them and wish they'd all go bankrupt and end this dark period in American journalism.
 
AngryZealot said:
CNN was 65% or so for Kerry if I remember right. Numbers for this election are here. 87% for McCain on FOX versus 63% for Obama on CNN. Huge difference.
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While McCain is regarded favorably by 88% of Fox News viewers, only 43% of CNN viewers and 38% of those who watch MSNBC agree. But just 14% of Fox viewers have a favorable opinion of Obama, as opposed to 70% of CNN watchers and 72% of those watching MSNBC.
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Don't mean to nitpick, just correcting you on what your own links says, lol.
 
I distinctly remember an explanation given for the apparent increase "knowledge" of daily show/ Colbert report viewers was not merely because they watched the daily show/Colbert report, but because the average viewer watched more news outlets in general. Thus providing them with more general information to begin with. If anything that says people who are more knowledgeable about politics are more likely to watch the daily show/ colbert report then some who isnt "knowledgeable" about politics.
 
Spartan117 said:
I distinctly remember an explanation given for the apparent increase "knowledge" of daily show/ Colbert report viewers was not merely because they watched the daily show/Colbert report, but because the average viewer watched more news outlets in general. Thus providing them with more general information to begin with. If anything that says people who are more knowledgeable about politics are more likely to watch the daily show/ colbert report then some who isnt "knowledgeable" about politics.
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Was anyone arguing that watching the Daily Show makes someone more knowledgeable? I think that's clearly incorrect.

It's a show about the news and current events, it's natural that it's going to draw in a crowd that is interested and knowledgeable about current events, otherwise most of the jokes wouldn't be funny.

My understanding was that people were arguing that being watched by that demographic made its perspective more valid, and then made Jon Stewart's comments more valid.
 
In midevil times the court jester was the only one allowed to tell the truth.
Just my thoughts
 
Repubs and conservatives had spent years complaining about the liberal media. Fox came along and filled a niche that talk radio served and thats why it gets more viewers, Repubs and conservatives just dont have many options.
 
How is Fox the worst when we have MSNBC which is like watching a paid advertisement for Obama?
 
"...we went into Iraq at the invitation of the government, not as an invasion."

W. T. F?

Has there been a retraction of this LIE yet?
 
DNK said:
Was anyone arguing that watching the Daily Show makes someone more knowledgeable? I think that's clearly incorrect.

It's a show about the news and current events, it's natural that it's going to draw in a crowd that is interested and knowledgeable about current events, otherwise most of the jokes wouldn't be funny.

My understanding was that people were arguing that being watched by that demographic made its perspective more valid, and then made Jon Stewart's comments more valid.
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You've got a good point, I'd only add that the Daily Show (and for that matter the Colbert Report) have interviews with authors selling books that do go deeper into current events issues, and the interviews with them are occasionally very informative.

Daily Show has its own bias and target demographic - people with a sense of humor. Politically this ends up targeting those in power, and that's a bias I prefer to either a pro-conservative or pro-liberal one.
 
Oerdin said:
That doesn't change the fact that Fox is a partisan hack channel for drooling idiots. Yes, America is full of idiots and so Fox gets lots of viewers but that isn't a good thing.
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Please. :rolleyes: This is about the most stupid ad hom I have heard in a long time.
 
This is way Colbert is much funnier. He picks a character and sticks with it. John Stewart is hit or miss, if he's just going for laughs he's pretty funny, but too often he gets really political. The correspondents on his show are funnier than he is.
 
CIVPhilzilla said:
This is way Colbert is much funnier. He picks a character and sticks with it. John Stewart is hit or miss, if he's just going for laughs he's pretty funny, but too often he gets really political. The correspondents on his show are funnier than he is.
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Colbert is a one trick pony. Stewart is an awesome straight man, and his correspondents could not be funny without him.
 
Bill3000 said:
Colbert is a one trick pony. Stewart is an awesome straight man, and his correspondents could not be funny without him.
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Yeah, but that trick is so good!

Cleo
 
Warman17 said:
Someone doesn't know a thing or two about pirates
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates#Modern_piracy
"Reports of piracy attacks were declining worldwide since 2004, but seems to have bottomed out in 2007.[35] Figures reported by the International Maritime Bureau indicate incident reporting fell for the third year in a row in 2006. Ships reported 239 incidents to the IMB during the year 2006, down from 276 in 2005, and 329 in 2004.[36] But the piracy rose by 14% in the first nine months of 2007.[35]"

Hardly the '17' on that chart.
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This is great news. Looks like our global warming problem has been solved. Now we can turn our attention to making our children better educated by having them watch the Daily Show every night.
 
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