Jon Stewart - TVNewser

O’Reilly Jokes: ‘James Rosen’s on His Way to Guantanamo Now’

Chris Ariens — Thu, 23 May 2013 11:52:58 +0000

Bill O’Reilly went on “The Daily Show” last night to publicize his new book “Keep it Pithy.” The conversation began with the scandals in Washington, specifically the DOJ searches into reporters, including Fox News correspondent James Rosen, but moved on to racial profiling and ended with O’Reilly suggesting Jon Stewart should bring in a Muslim host as he takes leave from the show this Summer. Stewart: “You know it hurts me to say this, but some of the emails that the Department of Justice is finding from Fox News are probably between you and I.”

WATCH:

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‘No One Relishes a Moment Like This … Wait a Minute, Is That Nancy Grace?’

Merrill Knox — Sun, 12 May 2013 11:16:32 +0000

After a Phoenix jury handed down a guilty verdict in the Jodi Arias trial this week, Jon Stewart turned his attention to HLN’s “dark mistress,” Nancy Grace.

“It’s a sad story all around,” Stewart said. “No one relishes a moment like this. Nobody delights in the gruesome spectacle. Nobody slurps each lurid detail like it was a perverse joy, like they were an engorged tragedy tick. Nobody would do — wait a minute, is that Nancy Grace?” Watch:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Salon: MSNBC And Fox News Have Made ‘Crossfire’ Irrelevant

Alex Weprin — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 10:08:04 +0000

As CNN weighs bringing back the political debate show “Crossfire,” Salon’s Alex Pareene writes that doing so may be perilous, because the show is “irrelevant.”

Rather than take the Jon Stewart approach to criticizing the show, Pareene argues that the cable news competition has filled the void in a way that will make it hard for “Crossfire” to stand out and draw attention. Fox News and MSNBC have carved out safe homes for die-hard liberals and die-hard conservatives on cable TV. Given that–pretty much by definition–anyone really into politics will be partisan, it is hard to imagine a show without a political point of view appealing to political junkies.

Fox made “Crossfire” irrelevant by parodying its model on “Hannity & Colmes” and then ditching Colmes in favor of a network-wide interchangeable cast of weak, milquetoast liberals and pseudo-liberals, for its Alpha Male ultra-conservatives to use as punching bags. MSNBC belatedly struck gold with a politer model in which reasonable hosts, some of whom are unabashed lefties, host non-argumentative discussions with guests representing a wider ideological (and ethnic and professional) range than cable news usually presents. (There is also still Chris Matthews and Larry O’Donnell shouting with and at people.) Those proved to be more popular models of political talking shows. CNN is constitutionally unable to imitate either, unfortunately.

What do you think, can CNN pull off a “Crossfire” reboot? Let us know in the comments.

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Jon Stewart to CNN: ‘You Spent An Hour Debating the Merits of Your Own Fiction.’

Chris Ariens — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:44:01 +0000

CNN, Fox News and the AP — but mostly CNN — are taking some shots this morning for their inaccurate reporting yesterday that an arrest had been made in the Boston blasts.

The AP’s media reporter David Bauder, in his story today: “Amid the confusion, the Columbia Journalism Review offered a one-word tweet: ‘Sigh.’”

The NABJ is not happy with John King‘s description of the individual as a “dark-skinned male.” Neither is MSNBC’s Al Sharpton.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution cartoonist Mike Luckovich couldn’t resist.

Not surprisingly, CNN’s reporting was the lead on “The Daily Show” last night. Jon Stewart: “Here’s the best part: John King exclusively reports that an arrest has been made and then caps it an hour later with the news that the FBI would prefer him to enjoy a hot cup of shut the fuck up.”

Watch:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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‘Crossfire’ Hosts Eager For a Comeback

Alex Weprin — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 09:41:15 +0000

As TVNewser first reported on Friday, CNN is mulling a return of “Crossfire,” the long-running political debate show that was canceled in 2005. It isn’t entirely clear when (or if) CNN will give the official go-ahead, and who would be involved in the new program, although we hear CNN’s current political contributor lineup would likely fill the roles.

That said, The Huffington Post’s Michael Calderone spoke to a number of former “Crossfire” hosts, and all agreed that bringing the show back is a good idea. They also took issue with the comments made by Jon Stewart on the program, when he said it was “Hurting America.”

“In a city that’s run with interest groups and lobbyists and gerrymandering, and money and everything else, the idea that somehow or another the whole thing was brought down from 4 to 4:30 Eastern on CNN is completely asinine,” said James Carville, a Democratic strategist and former “Crossfire” co-host who recently left the network.

“There are a lot of things that contribute to the problems in this country,” Carville added. “’Crossfire’ wasn’t one of them.”

continued…

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CNN Looking To Revive ‘Crossfire’

Alex Weprin — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 15:32:31 +0000

CNN is looking to bring back “Crossfire,” TVNewser hears. The long-running political debate show was canceled in 2005.

It isn’t entirely clear what time the program would air, though we hear it would likely be a 30-minute format. During its original run from 1982-2005, “Crossfire” aired in both the afternoons and primetime, in addition to weekend editions. Aside from a brief 60-minute experiment, it was always 30 minutes. CNN declined to comment.

If it moves forward, CNN would rely on its stable of political contributors to fill the “left,” “right” and occasionally “center” roles. The channel recently parted ways with contributors James Carville and Mary Matalin, who were regulars on the original iteration of the show. Paul Begala–also a regular on the show when it was canceled–is still with the channel.

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Daily Show: CNN Is ‘Lost Channel Of Atlanta’

Alex Weprin — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:35:05 +0000

As it occasionally does, “The Daily Show” dedicated a segment to CNN last night. While MSNBC and Fox News are routinely mocked on the show for their partisan pandering, the CNN critique was focused more on the gimmickry the network has rolled out over the last few weeks, like computer-generated goats, and a replica of Jodi Arias‘ apartment.

“I’m not sure it’s wise to have virtual goats when there is a guy named Wolf in the building,” Jon Stewart quipped.

WATCH:

Of course, as noted by CNN senior digital producer Steve Krakuaer, the next segment, which focuses on the delay in veterans benefits, was built off of original reporting… from CNN.

WATCH:
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What Does Shepard Smith Watch On TV?

Alex Weprin — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 13:21:00 +0000

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith submits his media diet to AdWeek. Smith devours media, but not so much TV. “I don’t watch a lot of TV. I’m not married to it.”

So what does he watch?

Megyn Kelly, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and maybe some FNC programs in the morning. he also sleeps with his smartphone:

Before bed, do you bite into a novel, graze on Twitter or fast until morning?
At bedtime, I do another lap. I make sure nothing blew up that I need to stay up for. I sleep with my Samsung Galaxy in the bed. They have a tendency to call me…It goes with the territory.

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The Ticker: Gasparino, Hollywood, Couric

Alex Weprin — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:16:49 +0000

FBN’s Charlie Gasparino talks to InvestorPlace about his new deal with the channel. Spoiler alert: “I love sticking it to CNBC whenever I can.”

Bloomberg TV is airing a special edition of “Street Smart” tomorrow live from Hollywood hosted by Trish Regan. The special will feature leaders like Showtime entertainment chief David Nevins and “Modern Family” EP Steve Levitan, talking the biz of Hollywood.

Katie Couric talks to “Extra” about her cancer awareness work, and also weighs in on Matt Lauer at “Today.” “Everybody gets sort of criticized or whatever, maybe it’s Matt’s turn for whatever reason.”

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Joe Scarborough, Jon Stewart Among the CNN Cruise Ship Coverage Critics

Chris Ariens — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:01:59 +0000

CNN’s decision to go wall-to-wall with the wayward Carnival Triumph making its way to port has become a story itself, as we pointed out in today’s Mediabistro Morning Media Newsfeed.

HuffPost: It was not hard news, and it was not the most “important” story that CNN could have been covering.

TIME: The strategy may be that CNN is a TV news network, and therefore its best bet is to go all in on whatever the best TV news story is — the story that best lends itself to arresting images, access and on-the-spot reporting.

Denver Post: CNN mistakes cruise ship story for Normandy landing

Jon Stewart: CNN has been on the case, for some reason giving this boat crisis wall-to-shit-covered-wall coverage treating a stalled cruise ship like it’s the Shackleton expedition.

Joe Scarborough: The killing in Syria comes to an end, the national debt clock stopped, we don’t have to worry anymore because CNN tells us that this cruise ship was the only story that mattered yesterday for 24 hours. (Video after the jump)

Noticeably quiet so far in all this, DailyBeast TV critic Howard Kurtz, who also hosts CNN’s media criticism show “Reliable Sources.”

Is all publicity good publicity? Was that part of Jeff Zucker‘s grand plan? And what about the ratings? Did anyone watch, did viewership grow as the ship tugged to port? We’ll have that story when ratings are released after 4pmET.

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Jon Stewart’s Aggressive Interview With Al Gore

Alex Weprin — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:54:00 +0000

Al Gore continues making the rounds for his new book. But what most interviewers want to know about is the sale of Current TV which, as a co-owner, he orchestrated. Earlier this week on NBC’s “Today,” Matt Lauer pressed Gore about the sale to Al Jazeera which is owned by the royal family of Qatar, whose wealth is derived from oil.

Gore mostly dodged the questions on “Today,” but on “The Daily Show” last night, Jon Stewart kept on him, getting Gore to reveal that the new Al Jazeera network will keep some programming from Current, and will be commercial-free.

Update: Current emails us top let us know that the new channel will not be commercial-free, so Gore was misinformed.

It starts to heat up around six minutes in:

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Al Gore To Make TV Rounds To Promote Book That Trashes TV News

Alex Weprin — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:45:04 +0000

Former Vice President Al Gore, who sold Current TV to Al Jazeera a few weeks back, is about to make a round of TV appearances. The appearances are ostensibly tied to the release of his new book The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change, but viewers should expect the Current TV sale to play a big part in the conversations.

Gore is currently slated to appear on NBC’s “Today” and CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman“ on Tuesday, and “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart Wednesday.

The appearances are particularly interesting, as Gore trashes television news in the book, as noted by New York Times book reviewer Michiko Kakutani.

He also complains that “virtually every news and political commentary program on television is sponsored in part by oil, coal and gas companies — not just during campaign seasons, but all the time, year in and year out — with messages designed to sooth and reassure the audience that everything is fine, the global environment is not threatened, and the carbon companies are working diligently to further develop renewable energy sources.”

Such remarks serve to remind the reader of a business deal Mr. Gore recently made that has ignited charges of hypocrisy and greed: selling Current TV (a channel he helped to found in 2005) for an estimated $500 million to Al Jazeera, the influential Arab news giant, which is financed by the government of oil- and gas-rich Qatar. Mr. Gore, who will reportedly make about $100 million from the deal, describes Al Jazeera in this book as “feisty and relatively independent.”

(h/t Brian Stelter on the Times review)

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‘The Daily Show’ Investigates Investigative Journalism

Alex Weprin — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 11:08:01 +0000

“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” last night dedicated a segment to investigative journalism. Specifically, the program used a story we broke last year about CNN restructuring its long-form content unit, and moved it forward by talking to one of the reporters affected by the cuts. We won’t spoil it, but as John Oliver discovered, the reporter, Kaj Larsen, has a very interesting new job.

WATCH:

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Craig Kilborn Shoots CNN Pilot

Alex Weprin — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:43:01 +0000

Actor and comedian Craig Kilborn shot a pilot recently for CNN, someone close to the actor confirmed to TVNewser. Don Kaplan first reported the story in the New York Daily News.

Kilborn, of course, was the original host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” from 1996-1998. The show was successful for Comedy Central, though it was a very different beast than the juggernaut Jon Stewart would turn the program into. Whereas Stewart’s ‘Daily Show” was topical and political, Kilborn’s version of the program focused on weird and wacky news stories like alien abductions, only occasionally straying into politics.

He went on to host “The Late Late Show” on CBS and most recently hosted talk show “The Kilborn File” on the Fox owned and operated stations in 2010.

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Jon Stewart on Petraeus Conspiracy Theories and Being ‘the Worst Journalist in the World’

Chris Ariens — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:47:18 +0000

Jon Stewart calls himself “the worst journalist in the world.” In January, Stewart interviewed Paula Broadwell, at the height of her affair with CIA director David Petraeus which has made him former CIA director David Petraeus. Stewart says he was “staring at how defined her arms are” and didn’t pick up on the innuendo staring back at him.

Stewart also had a round up some of the media conspiracy theories that emanated from the Petraeus affair.

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