People are still talking about The Daily Show showdown two weeks ago, in which Jon Stewart went head-to-head with CNBC’s Jim Cramer. In my opinion, Cramer got his ass handed to him by Stewart, and most non-NBC-affiliated people agree. But what, perchance, do NBC-affiliated people think of their golden boy Cramer being so thoroughly taken down?
NBC-Universal’s Chief Executive Jeff Zucker had a lot to say about it. He said that Jon Stewart was “completely out of line” and he basically claims that Stewart had made CNBC “the scapegoat” and that the financial network’s anchors and commentators were not responsible for what’s happened with the financial crisis. Zucker also came out with this gem: “Just because someone who mocks authority says something doesn’t make it so.” And just because someone with authority says it, doesn’t make it so. Reuters has more:
NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker fired back at comedian Jon Stewart on Wednesday, saying it was “unfair” and “absurd” for the funnyman to criticize CNBC and question its coverage of financial news.
“Everybody wants to find a scapegoat. That’s human nature,” Zucker said during a keynote address at a media industry conference. “But to suggest that the business media or CNBC was responsible for what is going on now is absurd.”
“Just because someone who mocks authority says something doesn’t make it so,” Zucker said, describing the comedian’s comments as “completely out of line.”
Zucker’s comments are the latest salvo in a war of words with Stewart, who hosts the mock news program “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” on the Comedy Central cable television network owned by Viacom Inc. Stewart has blasted CNBC’s reporting of the financial market meltdown, saying the channel was too cozy with corporate chiefs and key government officials.
The comedian has lobbed particularly harsh criticism at CNBC commentator Jim Cramer, and last week invited him for an appearance on the comedy show, where he hammered the guest for his coverage of Wall Street.
Zucker, speaking at the McGraw-Hill Media Summit in New York on Wednesday, said that CNBC’s reporters and commentators had done a “terrific” job and the network remained a “go-to” place for financial news.
“It’s unfair to CNBC and to the business media in general,” Zucker said. “I don’t think you can blame what happened here on the business media.”
Speaking later at the same event, Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman defended Stewart, among the top stars of his company’s Comedy Central network.
“He’s very smart and has a connection with the zeitgeist,” Dauman said when asked about he controversy. “Jon Stewart’s one of the few people on air who spoke to what people were thinking out there.”
[From Reuters]
Many have pointed out that during the “showdown”, Jim Cramer barely defended himself or CNBC. Cramer just came out with a bunch of mealy-mouthed excuses like “we could all do it better.” I hope the next showdown is between Jon and Jeff Zucker. That would be really fun.
Also, it’s interesting that Viacom’s Philippe Dauman stepped up to defend Stewart. I really think Viacom wants Jon Stewart to stay on the air as long as possible, no matter what it costs.
Zucker is as daft as cramer. stewart wasnt blaming CNBC for what happened to the financial system. he was pointing out that instead of doing their job as journalists and digging around and asking tough questions, they were fawning and being up every CEO and hedge fund manager’s butts. they failed as journalists just as there was a failure of the press around the Iraq war. for a network that claims to be providing coverage and news around the financial systems, CNBC was a miserable failure in its journalistic function, lapsing into nothing but gratuitous punditry.
Oh, Viacom probably loves John, and rightfully so. Because we do too. 😀
And Zucker can go ahead and have a cup of STFU. Stewart was 200% IN LINE.
Jon Stewart repeatedly said and has said that the financial media people didn’t cause the economic crisis.
What this Jeff Zucker person doesn’t understand is that what Jon Stewart was getting at is that since they are supposed to be experts on business and Wall Street and stocks and all that, shouldn’t they have been more curious about the crap that was going on behind closed doors and reported on it.
What line was Jon out of? Out of line with CNBC’s interests. Not out of line with the public’s interests.
bros, you beat me to it 🙂
Hey Jeff, people had stopped talking about this, until you brought it up again….so since you did………have you not actually watched Jon Stewarts show?
He was not blaming CNBC for the crisis, he was blaming them for being too close to the situation tha happening right in front of their eyes.
Don’t look at Jon as a TV guy, look at him as an average guy like the rest of us, who lost much of our investments due to the greed on Wall Street. He was PO’d and lucky for him, he had a microphone to use to blow off his steam. The rest of us just get to throw shoes at the TV
Bravo bros!
agree w/ bros & all above posters – Stewart was completely in line, and IMHO did all of us a favor by speaking the truth to power & standing up for the rest of us.
It sucks to be called out for not doing your job, doesn’t it?
The networks are not to blame for the financial melt down, but they certainly did not cover it was well (if at all) while it was happening!
When I signed up for my 401K plan the agent who came to help with it wasn’t even allowed to give recoomendations how to break up my contributions and who to go with. How was Cramer allowed to do this on television?
BTW, are we officially in a depression yet? Oh dang, guess, I’ll have to wait Jon Stewart officially calls it!
“they failed as journalists just as there was a failure of the press around the Iraq war”
I thought the press pretty much vilified the Iraq war until the surge worked, then they shut up. The only comment I have about the press in the USA is that they are biased, push an agenda and are pretty much incompetent.
Did Zucker even watch that interview? If so he certainly didn’t learn that the Goliath that is NBC etc. should steer clear of Mr Stewart, they can not win and if they continue to attempt to discredit Mr Stewart, who does not suffer fools gladly, he simply said what most people are/were thinking the worse they (NBC et al)look. It is in their best interest to let it go and take their well deserved lumps, learn a lesson from this and hopefully try to actually bring us financial news and analysis that is honest even if it is ‘icky’ and makes the poor ol corporations feel bad.
Blaming the financial networks for the economic crisis is like blaming ESPN for the steroid in baseball scandal.
It just goes to show how incredibly stupid Zucker and the rest of his suits are at NBC. Instead of actually watching the show in question, Zucker essentially spouted off a non sequitur (instead of keeping his uninformed mouth shut). Is it any wonder that the quality of ‘news’ at NBC (or any major network) is on par with with the National Enquirer? Instead of condemning Stewart, they should be hiring him. I guess NBC has a policy of not hiring any one more intelligent than Zucker (inspires confidence doesn’t it).
jon stewart asked questions that cramer should have been able to answer, and he couldn’t. jon recounted statements that cramer had made on his show, and crameer couldn’t defend them. if cramer was not able to defend himself he should not have gone on the show in the first place. i watched him, and his response to all of jon’s questions & statements was to look at the audience and make lame little jokes in an effort to make himself a
likable “everyman”, but it didn’t work. he has no one to blame for that fiasco but himself. and zucker should just STFU and go back to counting his money and let jon stewart do what he does so well.
Tony,
Im talking about the lead-up to invading iraq, when the press failed at its watchdog function, blindly lapped up whatever the bush administration threw at them, did not question anything, and basically did not want to be unpatriotic and kept their mouths shut. this has been fairly well documented, covered, with plenty of mea culpas issued, plenty of ‘where did we go wrong’ hand-wringing, and internal audits of many news organizations. that’s what I meant-they in now way villified anything until well after we invaded.
oh, and by, ‘the press’ do mean everything that counts as journalism is biased and has an agenda in this country? are you serious? the entire press is biased..hmm. what country’s media system do you wish the US had, in that case? for all its faults and shortcomings, it is one of the freest, openest, and dogged in the world. I wouldnt want china’s, for example.
Of course Zucker thought he was out of line. John Stewart has been responsible for more journalism over the last few years than all of the news shows combined.
John Stewart is completely hot, I know that … 😀