Online news outlets apparently yanked their thesauruses out from beneath their beds last Thursday, labeling Jon Stewart's interview of CNBC's "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer with headlines such as "Stewart Eviscerates Cramer, CNBC," and "Jon Stewart Thrashes Jim Cramer."
Anyone who watched the interview knows that it wasn't in typical Stewartesque fashion. The host of "The Daily Show" didn't josh around with Cramer; he indignantly crucified him and his network.
Last Thursday Cramer became the regrettable face of everything that's wrong with modern journalism, and worst yet, Stewart epitomized everything that's right.
CNBC, with its programs and pundits that speculate on financial news, doesn't seem to fully appreciate the power it holds in swaying consumer confidence and upholding the idea of Wall Street responsibility. They have championed the senseless idea that money can be instantaneous, or fast, or even mad - elevating the shady 3 a.m. easy-money infomercial to prime-time status and labeling it as American as apple pie.
But Stewart's a populist. He may have mocked CNBC's Rick Santelli's live populist appeal to the traders on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, but by no means is "The Daily Show" a leader in social thought. The show is nothing more than the proverbial French radical who spots an angry mob passing by and says, "There go my people, I must find them so I can lead them."
Today, the angry mob is pointing its pitchforks at the world of Wall Street and financial news networks, but yesterday they were ready to torch the regular news media for not paying more attention to the flimsy case for war in Iraq. Even then, it was Stewart who led the bastion of ragtag flamethrowers, scolding Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala on the since-canceled CNN program "Crossfire" for denigrating our political system into an obnoxious shouting match.
Something is seriously wrong when our nation's court jester has to point out the failings of our political and financial leaders. But it's no surprise that we've come to this point. The Internet has allowed anyone, even crazy people, to not only have an opinion but shout it out to the world. If you want, you could comment on this very column online, and then comment on a news article on nytimes.com. It's no wonder that the popularity of television opinion programs have exploded in recent years. Opining has become an art that anyone can practice, and it seems that news conglomerates have pushed the prestige and credibility of news programs aside for the ratings of opinion programs.
There is a place for opinion, for speculation, but it's typically labeled as such. There is also a place for biting investigative journalism that uncovers the hypocrisy and shady dealings of our world, something that seems to be in small supply today. Something that Stewart and Co. capitalized on last week, as the ratings of "Mad Money" plummeted and "The Daily Show" soared.
And I didn't need a thesaurus to figure that one out.
Matthew Christ is a political science freshman. His column appears on Mondays.
