I want to show the Stewart on Crossfire thing to everyone at the Humphrey. So, I had the idea of commandeering a classroom, using the AV equipment, and putting it up on screen. Then I had the idea of having people talk about the role of media in the political process afterwards: what it can be, what it should be, and what it is. An interesting sidenote would be to see how many people started talking over one another in the process.
I’m going to propose it to our student org for the humphrey and see how well it is received.
Are you sure that you really want to show this? I mean, the argument that Stewart makes about the role and responsibility of the media versus the powers of capitalism is fairly nuanced and involved, and he made ZERO attempt to elaborate on Crossfire, other than repeatedly saying “you’re failing America.” On top of that, it wasn’t even funny. 🙂
Perhaps you could find a much more substantive and complete argument elsewhere, one that would give enough material to stimulate a real discussion? A documentary? Something must be available for journalism students…
P.S. I do love Stewart on the Daily Show.
I agree with Aaaron. I was totally underwhelmed by the actual clip. But based on the hype, I expected Stewart to say something original and new. Instead, Stewart stated the obvious, that mass media serves more to entertain than to educate and enlighten.
He suggests a little more than that, I think. Albeit, you have to actually read between the lines and think about it a bit to get the more interesting bits. See also my reply to Aaron below this.
Ah, but one of the things it does do is provide an example of how the arguments are articulated in the newsmedia. Which is to say interrupting one another with soundbytes and trying to win by volume rather than anything resembling an articulate argument.
I actually did find it entertaining. And it all started off as me wanting to show this clip, and then it seemed like a waste of a good opportunity to bring together educated, smart, interested people to watch a debatably interesting tv clip, then leave. If this were to be pulled off, I’d expect the conversation, and not the tv clip to be the highlight.
Well its not a bad place to start. I thought it was funny – but it could have lasted about 30 seconds! 😀
Still the point is strong – why does the media insist on just repeating what spokespeople say etc etc instead of doing actual investigative reporting.
Think about how many internet urban legends end up in mainstream press until someone has to go tell all the papers that they were duped.
It makes for an interesting discussion ignition point I’d say. But there isn’t a ton of substance in the actual clip