"Jon Stewart shaped cultural attitudes of a generation; Comedian signing off ‘The Daily Show’" by Don Aucoin, Globe Staff February 11, 2015
Honestly, I stopped watching him a long time ago.
The looting, the lies, and all the rest just isn't funny anymore.
Jon Stewart, who helped shape the political and cultural attitudes of a generation with some of the brainiest satire that television has ever seen, announced Tuesday that he will step down from his perch at Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show’’ later this year.
“It’s been an absolute privilege,’’ said Stewart, who struggled with his emotions at times as he made the announcement at the end of his show Tuesday night. “It’s been the honor of my professional life.’’
Hinting at the reason he is leaving, Stewart told the studio audience and the television audience beyond: “This show doesn’t deserve an even slightly restless host, and neither do you.’’ An audience member cried out: “We love you, Jon!’’
Whenever Stewart departs the show he has hosted since 1999, it will leave a major vacuum. What Walter Cronkite was to an earlier generation — an utterly trusted voice — Stewart has been to millennials. The key difference, of course, was that Stewart was schooled not in journalism but in comedy, and he was a purveyor, as he often reminded us, of “fake news.’’
That is so Orwellian because we are at the point where ma$$ media is literally fake.
Yet the reality is that Stewart’s devastatingly witty mock newscast-with-commentary often seemed closer to the truth than the news delivered with straight faces by sonorous network anchors. His stock rose as the media’s credibility sank.
Yup, and is there really a need to say more?
Indeed, in one of those you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up coincidences, NBC News announced Tuesday night that anchor Brian Williams has been suspended by the network for six months without pay, after he admitted that his story about being in a helicopter that came under enemy fire in Iraq was false. (In keeping with his neither-fear-nor-favor approach, Stewart had lampooned Williams, who performed winningly during guest stints on “The Daily Show,’’ during Monday night’s show. Commenting on the media feeding frenzy over Williams, Stewart remarked sardonically: “Finally someone is being held to account for misleading America about the Iraq war.”)
Yeah, the same media that blared the lies from their front pages -- and which continue to blare war lies to this day.
Stewart’s genius — and for once that overused word is appropriate — lay in the way he turned “The Daily Show’’ into must-see-TV by presiding over an ongoing counter-narrative to the official pronouncements of Washington policy makers and to the media’s coverage of those pronouncements.
What do you think I have been doing here?
As “The Daily Show’’ won nearly two dozen Emmy Awards along the way, Stewart helped raise television’s collective IQ not just with his own razor-sharp satire of elected officials and media figures, but also by playing a direct role in boosting the careers of onetime “Daily Show’’ regulars such as Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, and Larry Wilmore, all of whom got their own impact-making shows.
Stewart regularly rejected suggestions that he wielded enormous influence, claiming he was just a comedian, but those assertions were never persuasive.
A decade ago, a survey by the Pew Research Center found that more than one-fifth of 18- to 29-year-olds got their presidential campaign news from “The Daily Show’’ and “Saturday Night Live.’’
I can attest to that phenomenon firsthand. For the past dozen years, I’ve taught at a local university, and in the first class of each semester I ask my students what their primary news sources are. Invariably, several of them reply: “Jon Stewart.’’
Newspapers are done, and now I know why my piece of crap keeps getting worse. They are writing it for their dwindling reader$hip.
During the presidency of George W. Bush, especially during the Iraq war, Stewart emerged as a one-man opposition party, far more vigorous than the Democrats in Congress.
Globe not like Keith Olbermann (remember him), and what does that say about Democraps?
At the end of 2004, Entertainment Weekly bypassed the usual movie stars and rock singers to name him “Entertainer of the Year.’’ When CNN pulled the plug on its long-running political debate show “Crossfire,’’ a top CNN executive said that he agreed wholeheartedly with Stewart’s scathing criticism of the show.
While he was a guest on “Crossfire,’’ Stewart had told the hosts that their partisan shoutfests were “hurting America.’’ It was just one of several memorable Stewart takedowns.
The extent of his influence was underscored when Dan Rather stepped down as anchor of the “CBS Evening News’’ and the head of CBS told television critics that he was contemplating a multianchor format that could include a role for Stewart.
“For the better part of the last two decades, I have had the incredible honor and privilege of working with Jon Stewart,” Comedy Central president Michele Ganeless said in a statement Tuesday night. “His comedic brilliance is second to none. Jon has been at the heart of Comedy Central, championing and nurturing the best talent in the industry, in front of and behind the camera. Through his unique voice and vision, ‘The Daily Show’ has become a cultural touchstone for millions of fans and an unparalleled platform for political comedy that will endure for years to come.’’
Who is the next host?
Stewart’s announcement of his upcoming departure comes just two months after Colbert wrapped up “The Colbert Report.’’ (Colbert will take over David Letterman’s late-night show on CBS later this year, but he will abandon his persona as an arch-conservative blowhard.)
Related: No More Late Night Blogs
Gotta curfew now.
They were a one-two punch for the ages. Airing back to back, Stewart and Colbert made us laugh and think — about the news, and about the people who deliver it.
The self promotion got to me, sorry.
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And about that other guy:
"NBC’s Brian Williams takes fire for his apology about false Iraq war tale" by David Bauder, Associated Press February 06, 2015
NEW YORK — NBC News anchor Brian Williams found himself the story Thursday, his credibility seriously threatened because he claimed — falsely — that he had been in a helicopter hit by a grenade during the Iraq war.
He's one small piece of an entire industry that has lost its credibility. Too many agenda-pushing lies for far too long, and the weather is what broke the camel's back.
NBC News officials would not say whether their top on-air personality would face disciplinary action. The ‘‘Nightly News’’ anchor for just over a decade, Williams had become an online punching bag overnight.
Why only him?
Tweets with the hashtag #BrianWilliamsMemories joked that he blew up the Death Star, saved someone from a polar bear, and flew with Wonder Woman in her invisible helicopter.
Al Gore said he invented the Internet.
‘‘How could you expect anyone who served in the military to ever see this guy onscreen again and not feel contempt? How could you expect anyone to believe he or the broadcast he leads has any credibility?’’ wrote critic David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun.
He had already lost it with me, so..... ????
Williams apologized Wednesday for telling the story a week earlier during a ‘‘Nightly News’’ tribute to a veteran he had befriended on a 2003 reporting trip to Iraq. Before expressing his regrets on the air, Williams did so online and in an interview with the newspaper Stars & Stripes.
He speculated online that constant viewing of video showing him inspecting the damaged helicopter ‘‘and the fog of memory over 12 years, made me conflate the two, and I apologize.’’
His story had morphed through the years.
This guy is a real piece of work!
Shortly after the incident, Williams had described on NBC how he was traveling in a group of helicopters forced down in the Iraq desert. On the ground, he learned the Chinook in front of him ‘‘had almost been blown out of the sky”; he showed a photo of the aircraft with a gash from a rocket-propelled grenade.
But in a 2008 blog post, Williams said that his helicopter had come under fire from what appeared to be Iraqi farmers with RPGs. He said a helicopter in front of his had been hit.
Then, in a 2013 appearance on David Letterman’s ‘‘Late Show,’’ Williams said two of the four helicopters he was traveling with had been hit by ground fire, ‘‘including the one I was in.’’
‘‘No kidding?’’ Letterman interjected.
Williams described making a quick, hard landing in the middle of the desert.
‘‘I have to treat you now with renewed respect,’’ Letterman said. ‘‘That’s a tremendous story.’’
Williams’s story was first questioned in posts to the ‘‘Nightly News’’ Facebook page. It’s a touchy topic: Members of the military who are wounded or who come under enemy fire consider themselves members of a special kind of brotherhood and don’t like people who try to intrude, said Pete Mansoor, a retired US Army colonel and a professor of military history at Ohio State University.
‘‘It smacks of stolen valor,’’ Mansoor said — an offense that Williams specifically denied in his online apology.
Rich Krell, who piloted the helicopter Williams was flying in that day, told CNN Thursday that there were three helicopters in formation, not four. Although the helicopter in front of Williams was hit by the grenade, Krell said all three were hit by small arms fire.
He seemed to take Williams’s account in stride. ‘‘After a while, with combat stories, you just go ‘whatever,’ ” Krell said.
I find myself saying that very often while I'm reading a Globe in the morning.
Many people have embellished war stories. During the 2008 campaign, Hillary Clinton was derided for saying she came under sniper fire when, as first lady, she arrived at a military base in Bosnia. Her representatives said she had misspoken.
Williams’s immediate issue is whether or not people believe his apology, a particular problem in an industry where credibility is crucial.
And an industry that no longer has any.
It’s up to NBC News President Deborah Turness to decide whether Williams will be punished in any way. She has the reputations of both her most well-known personality and the news division as a whole to consider.
But Jane Hall, a communications professor at American University, said she believed Williams’s apology should be accepted.
Doesn't mean I will ever believe a word he says ever again.
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"NBC assigns its own investigator to look into Brian Williams claims" by DAVID BAUDER , Associated Press | February 6, 2015
NEW YORK — NBC News has assigned the head of its own investigative unit to look into statements that anchor Brian Williams made about his reporting in Iraq a dozen years ago, an episode that's ballooned into a full-blown credibility crisis for the network.
The story [stemming from] Williams' wartime reporting experience has made him a subject of mockery, including a New York Post front cover that depicted him with a long Pinocchio's nose, over the headline "A Nose for News."
Where was all this when it was Judy Miller and the rest lying up a storm?
He's the leading man at the network's news division, whose nightly newscast has topped its rivals in ratings for the better part of a decade.
I never watch news on TV.
He apologized on the air Wednesday for telling his story about the supposed grenade attack as recently as last Friday on "Nightly News." He admitted that his helicopter was not hit by a grenade after war veterans had come forward to question the account, some even disputing whether Williams' helicopter was in a group that came under direct attack.
NBC News must also weigh his importance to the news division and the work he has done since taking over as top anchor from Tom Brokaw in 2004.
He's in the "terrorism business!"
Questions were also raised about statements Williams made on coverage of Hurricane Katrina, which was one of his proudest moments at NBC. The remarks drew suspicion because during Katrina, there was relatively little flooding in New Orleans' French Quarter. Williams was staying at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in New Orleans, according to an NBC source who requested anonymity.
Oh, so he is MAKING UP STORIES all over the place, huh?
Looks like THIS GUY'S EGO GREW to BIG for his head!
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Related: Brian Williams to take himself off NBC for ‘several days’
Why didn't you just resign?
"Embattled NBC News anchor Brian Williams is backing out of a scheduled appearance on David Letterman’s ‘‘Late Show’’ on Thursday. That news from NBC came Sunday, a day after Williams said he was stepping away from ‘‘Nightly News’’ as the network looks into the anchor’s admission that he had told a false story about being on helicopter hit by a grenade while reporting on the Iraq war. Weekend anchor Lester Holt is filling in for Williams on the ‘‘Nightly News’’ (AP)."
"NBC suspends Brian Williams for 6 months" by Emily Steel and Ravi Somaiya, New York Times February 11, 2015
NEW YORK — Brian Williams, the embattled NBC news anchor whose credibility plummeted after he acknowledged exaggerating his role in a helicopter incident in Iraq, was suspended for six months without pay, the network said Tuesday night.
That's it?
“This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian’s position,” Deborah Turness, the president of NBC News, said in an internal memo. Lester Holt will continue to substitute for Williams as anchor now, the network said.
His departure culminated a rapid and startling fall from grace for Williams, who at age 55 was the head of the highest-rated evening news show, the winner of top industry accolades, a coveted speaker at dinners and panels, and a frequent celebrity guest on entertainment shows.
He must have thought he was bigger than what he covered.
Williams has been drawing 9.3 million viewers a night, the most of any newscast. But six months is a long time to disappear from the television landscape, and analysts said it would be difficult for him to reestablish himself as a credible nightly presence.
“I don’t know how he can ever read the news with a straight face, or how the public will respond if he does,” said Mark Feldstein, a broadcast journalism professor at the University of Maryland. On the other hand, he added, “Maybe they’re hoping that with a six-month cooling-off period, he’s got a loyal fan base.”
Steve Burke, the chief executive of NBC Universal, informed Williams of the suspension in a meeting Tuesday at his Manhattan apartment. “NBC Nightly News” staff learned about it in a meeting after the evening broadcast. Few at NBC News had foreseen the decision, though many suspected some action was to be taken when a meeting was called for Tuesday night.
“By his actions, Brian has jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News,” Burke said in a statement. “His actions are inexcusable and this suspension is severe and appropriate.”
Millions of idiots.
For NBC, the suspension provides at least a temporary solution to the crisis that has engulfed the network since Williams admitted last week that he had misled the public with the helicopter story. The incident has called into question not only the credibility of Williams but also the ethics and the culture at NBC News. It is not clear whether other people at NBC were aware of Williams’s version of events.
All this self-centered hand-wringing is hilarious!
Burke said Williams “has shared his deep remorse with me and he is committed to winning back everyone’s trust.”
Sorry, but once you lose that there is always doubt.
“He deserves a second chance, and we are rooting for him,” Burke said.
I don't think he does.
Turness said in a memo to NBC News staff that executives decided to suspend Williams because he misrepresented events in his coverage of the Iraq War on his evening newscast and elsewhere.
“We have concerns about comments that occurred outside NBC News while Brian was talking about his experiences in the field,” she said.
On his Feb. 4 nightly newscast, Williams admitted that he had embellished his account of being on a helicopter that was hit by enemy fire in 2003 and apologized to viewers for misleading them.
I'm sorry, but that just isn't good enough anymore.
In the days that followed, he came under a barrage of criticism from military veterans, media commentators, and viewers who claimed he had lost the trust so critical to a network news anchor.
More broadly, the perception of the network has taken a significant hit as the negative attention on Williams has dominated headlines and trended on social media in the past week.
Even my jock friends were asking about it.
Three days after his broadcast apology, Williams announced he was stepping aside temporarily from his show because he had become “too much a part of the news.” The news came after NBC started an investigation into Williams and his reporting from Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and any other news event that it deemed necessary to review.
So the embellishing was a pattern.
In the face of NBC News’s ratings woes, Williams was a bright spot, a popular and trusted newsman whose show was leading the fierce ratings race among network newscasts and generating $200 million in annual advertising sales. He was also an ambassador for the network, a regular on late-night shows who entertained audiences with stories of his life and his career reporting the news.
Looks like they will need a new one.
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Related:
--source--"
Actually, they are both responsible: the industry Williams worked in was a sock puppet for the Bush administration and its Iraq lies.
Time to turn the TV off for the night.
What was most noticeable of all was the cavalier, even joking way in which the lies that led to war in Iraq were referred to by the current slop shovelers of the propaganda pre$$. It's all funny to them.
UPDATE:
Presstitute Pro-War Chorus
Looks like I'm not alone in my views regardless of the propaganda garbage being shoveled today.
Jon Stewart’s accidental legacy of sneers
I'll let that author speak for herself.
UPDATE: Jon Stewart tries his hand at professional wrestling
