The Comedian as Media Critic
by Brian Stelter
TVDecoder.blogs.nytimes.com
March 13, 2009
Is the “weeklong feud of the century” finished?
Jon Stewart, the host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, critiqued CNBC”™s coverage of the stock market on Thursday during a highly anticipated appearance by Jim Cramer, the host of the sometimes frantic stock market show “Mad Money” on CNBC.
Mr. Stewart questioned Mr. Cramer about the perception that CNBC acts as a cheerleader for the investment community. “The financial news industry is not just guilty of a sin of omission but a sin of commission,” Mr. Stewart said. Mr. Cramer agreed that he made a number of faulty predictions over the years.
.cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url(‘http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png’) !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.cc_show a{color:#707070;text-decoration:none;}.cc_title a{color:#868686;text-decoration:none;}.cc_links a:hover{color:#67bee2;text-decoration:underline;}
The must-see-TV moment came more than a week after CNBC abruptly canceled Mr. Stewart”™s interview with Rick Santelli, a reporter who had ranted about President Obama”™s housing plan on the network last month. Mr. Stewart complained about the cancellation and spent eight minutes on “The Daily Show” playing video clips of the network”™s mistaken financial forecasts. “If I had only followed CNBC”™s advice, I”™d have a million dollars today,” Mr. Stewart said, “provided that I”™d started with $100 million.”
That first video has been viewed more than 1.5 million times on Comedy Central”™s Web site for the show. Mr. Cramer and Mr. Stewart battled back and forth in a series of online columns and TV segments before meeting for the first time on Thursday on “The Daily Show” set. Comedy Central called it the “weeklong feud of the century.” Read the rest of this article here.