Jon Stewart Shows the Way

Not so long ago we learned that the majority of American youths get their news from Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. I'm happy to see good reason to appreciate this fact. Jon said to Jim Cramer of CNBC's Mad Money that his mother is now 75 and she had invested for the long term. This personalization of the grander topic, the financial melt-down, is clear indication to me that Jon Stewart is a caring individual. For our youth to be listening to this kind of sentiment is a good thing.

Before bringing his mother into the discussion he had told Cramer that CNBC itself and his show, Mad Money, had touted what the banks were doing as they took the people's money and used it to burn the "f*****g" house down. He did not let him off the hook. He engaged him and he challenged Cramer to the point where Cramer used in his defence the necessity to produce 17 hours of live TV per day. Cramer said that CNBC has to fill the time up. He stopped short of saying that when the pressure for footage is great the content becomes very shady/untruthful/incorrect/insincere. But Stewart was aggressive in his interview and also managed to broaden the criticism to the banks and the Wall Street financials in a very educated and direct way. Here was a man with no hidden agenda! He added that it was not about the pundits being wrong but more about them being all over the place.

As he brought the interview to a close and before he shook hands with Cramer he deliberately and coolly said that his mother had invested her savings all her life based on the conservative advise of financial people. And now.... he stopped! This man has his finger on the pulse of America. Any one could finish the sentence and we all know his pain. Who, after your child, is the most important person perhaps in your care? Your parent. So, like many mothers out there, Stewart's 75 year old mother is with a depleted retirement fund.

I am happy to report that the youth are watching Jon Stewart. I am going to start watching his show more often. This is what TV is/should be about. Keeping them honest, challenging them, questioning what is going on. Of course I have to wonder who would have the courage to be interviewed on his show going forward? But that is where he shone.

Jon Stewart did not think about the next show or getting Cramer on again. He was mad and he was mad in a very similar way to many Americans and he just went with it. He attacked with the questions and the style that America would love to attack the financials. He was not choreographing the questions to achieve respect at Comedy Central. He was not taking any cheap shots. He was not being disrespectful. He expressed his anger and in doing so expressed the anger of the American people at the banks and the supposed experts on CNBC.

The beautiful addition of his mother's story put it all in perspective perfectly. This is personal and this is personal for all Americans.

This is good TV. This is analysis of TV on TV. This is what TV must be in order to facilitate change for the better in society. Pundits on all these stations including all the news stations must be seen to be what Cramer said. We must see them as TV people with the tough task of producing multiple hours of TV. They will do it within a budget, so while there is news worthy of reporting in Bangladesh or Zimbabwe or Ireland, it will only be covered if it is economically viable. This means that much news is not reported at all and we, the audience, accept as truth and expert opinion the ramblings of overworked pundits.

We got to see it for what it is. Bad TV and too much of it. Just because they are on TV does not mean that they know what they are talking about. Just because they repeat their headlines over and over and over again does not make that headline more important. Just because they repeat the news does not mean that there is no more news. In fact it means the opposite - they are ignoring lots of news for the cheap alternative or repetition.

And they are all at it. Let's wake up! Jon Stewart has shown us the way. Let us follow.