What a sad commentary on the state of the mainstream media:
USAToday (bastion of hard-hitting journalism, I realize) is this morning reporting the following:
One of the most intriguing, and potentially important, interviews of the week will take place Thursday night without either a journalist or a newsmaker. Fans of finance and entertainment are salivating to see how CNBC's Jim Cramer holds up when he appears on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
And here's the funny part -- they're actually RIGHT.
Jon Stewart's interview with Jim Cramer WILL be one of the tougher and potentially more interesting interviews this week. Why? Because Jon will actually grill Cramer. No doubt about it -- everyone watching knows he's going to lay into him, question his assertions, make him sweat, confront him with inconvenient truths about his past statements and push him out of his comfort zone in front of a lively and informed audience and millions of viewers.
That's good television.
And you know what? Today, it qualifies as pretty good journalism, too.
Look -- I love The Daily Show. I love the mirror it holds up to the media and elected officials. Some of the correspondent stuff I could do without, and sometimes it's a bit slapstick for me. But when Jon Stewart is on his game skewering hypocrites, for my money it doesn't get much better.
And here's the thing -- ANYONE COULD DO THIS. Tim Russert used to do sort of a PC version of it -- get Leader X on the show, ask about current opinion of Legislation A, discussion, and then present quote from a year ago stating exact opposite opinion of Legislation A from Leader X. No humorous comment, no funny faces, no swearing -- but the methodology was similar. David Gregory employs the tactic occasionally, but not as well. Stewart and his team seem to have an innate sense of what is really outraging or perplexing the populous at any given moment and put it front and center in their bulls-eye. Of course, it helps that so many of our elected officials (and especially the GOP -- let's be honest) make for easy targets.
USAToday goes on to say:
"Here's a guy who may have his career on the line," says Bob Gold of public relations firm Bob Gold & Associates. "His credibility has been brought into question. NBC Universal (CNBC's parent) will have to draw a line. Trust is at stake."
Dang. Dude has to get his resume in order before going onto a basic cable VARIETY SHOW??
In any case, I think the mainstream media should be watching tonight.
I think the nightly news anchors should take note. I think the cable talking heads should pay attention. I certainly think the press pool and the AP boys and the Reuters gang and the news mags and the other folks who are in the business of helping the public make sense of what's happening should tune in. Rather than trying to cast Stewart as a cherry-picking troublemaker, they should pay attention to his style of asking probing questions and getting to the heart of issues, all while smiling. This isn't Saturday Night Live.
Tonight, odds are Jon Stewart is going to take on two really amorphous issues (the banking crisis and tanking economy), get someone out there front and center who is supposed to understand them at a very deep level (but who is actually much too involved in making the news than just reporting it) and ask the questions we wish we could ask. And he'll make you laugh throughout.
Oh -- and Cramer doesn't stand a chance.