Thursday, March 01, 2007

Short Span Attention Theater...



It took me a while to recognize him...Guess what, tats Jon Stewart 15 years ago hosting a show called Short Span Attention Theater on Comedy Channel...Jon has steadily climbed up the popularity charts and is considered to be the best among current breed of anchors.

Here's the Crossfire episode video below in which Jon appeared...Rather than cracking jokes for what he is known for, he criticized Crossfire and similar shows for partisan hackery and sensationalism.

Part of the transcript from this show...

STEWART: You're doing theater, when you should be doing debate. ... It's not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery. ... You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.

CARLSON: You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think.

STEWART: You need to go to one. ... I'm here to confront you, because we need help from the media and they're hurting us. ... I watch your show every day. And it kills me. It's so -- oh, it's so painful to watch, because we need what you do. This is such a great opportunity you have here to actually get politicians off of their marketing and strategy.

CARLSON: Is this really Jon Stewart? What is this, anyway?

STEWART: Yes, it's someone who watches your show and cannot take it anymore.

CARLSON: What's it like to have dinner with you? It must be excruciating. Do you like lecture people like this or do you come over to their house and sit and lecture them they're not doing the right thing, that they're missing their opportunities, evading their responsibilities?

STEWART: If I think they are.


Few weeks later, CNN axed Carlson as well as canceled the show Crossfire.

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