[1]<\/p>\n\n\n
How much is the media itself a subject? In 2007, the media was the direct subject in 8% of the content on the program. That is more than twice as much as in the mainstream press (3%). But it may be less than some might have imagined.<\/p>\n\n
Much of the apparent criticism of the press comes in the way The Daily Show talks about the news and in the use of clips, rather than in direct commentary about the media per se. It is, in effect, press criticism by comparison.<\/p>\n\n
Nonetheless, there are times when Stewart and company take the press straight on. <\/p>\n\n
At times, the focus is on individual journalists. On June 6, Stewart aired clips of Wolf Blitzer preparing for one of the Republican debates. Here, Blitzer took his viewers on a trip of \u201cwhat you can expect.\u201d He tells the audience how the candidates will enter the stage and that there was water available for them. Introducing the clips, Stewart joked, \u201cHere we are almost 18 months before the general election and already CNN has run out of pre-debate filler material.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Sometimes, the criticism is downright blunt. During an October 2 guest appearance by MSNBC host Chris Matthews about his book \u201cLife\u2019s a Campaign,\u201d Matthews invited Stewart to Hardball. Stewart responds, \u201cYou know what? Can I say this? I don\u2019t troll.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
An outraged Matthews responds, \u201cYou are unbelievable! You\u2026This is a book interview from hell. This is the worst interview I\u2019ve had in my life! …You are the worst!\u201d <\/p>\n\n
[2]<\/p>\n\n\n
Later Stewart added, \u201cThere were also a slew of on-site investigative reports from locales as diverse as the front of the strip club where she met her billionaire husband to a picture of her possible Death Fridge\u2026All to find out how a woman who appeared to be in a perpetual downward spiral somehow spiraled downward.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
Addressing perhaps the most tragic story of the year\u2014the killings at Virginia Tech\u2014Stewart again focused not on the event but on the press reaction to it. Ten days after the event, Stewart offered a commentary on the coverage. \u201cYou know there\u2019s been a lot of debate about how to cover the Virginia Tech killings,\u201d Stewart noted. \u201cIndeed, even over here, we\u2019re torn between addressing it or, my preference, sitting in a corner, and rocking back and forth and weeping. But the rest of the media had so many questions: What went into the mind of this killer? Could this have been prevented and, perhaps most pressing, how did we do?\u201d After showing various clips of other television broadcasts which ended when one Fox News reporter commented: \u201cShepard Smith of Fox, probably, was the most credible when he asked the students, \u2018how are you feeling?\u2019 he seemed to really mean it,\u201d Stewart responded, \u201c\u2026Is that the journalistic standard we have in this country? Hey! We almost mean it when we ask how you\u2019re doing. We almost seem human. Which is really ironic because most of us are f***ing sociopaths!\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Footnotes \u00a0 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How much is the media itself a subject? In 2007, the media was the direct subject in 8% of the content on the program. That is more than twice as much as in the mainstream press (3%). But it may be less than some might have imagined. Much of the apparent criticism of the press […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"bylines":[],"acknowledgements":[],"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[],"tags":[],"bylines":[],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[],"research-teams":[527],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-90459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","formats-report","research-teams-journalism"],"label":false,"post_parent":90445,"word_count":536,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/making-fun-of-the-press\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[{"id":90445,"title":"Journalism, Satire or Just Laughs? \u201cThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart,\u201d Examined","slug":"journalism-satire-or-just-laughs-the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-examined","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/journalism-satire-or-just-laughs-the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-examined\/","is_active":false},{"id":90452,"title":"What\u2019s On\u2014And What\u2019s Not On\u2014The Daily Show","slug":"whats-onand-whats-not-onthe-daily-show","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/whats-onand-whats-not-onthe-daily-show\/","is_active":false},{"id":90413,"title":"A Focus on Satire","slug":"a-focus-on-satire","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/a-focus-on-satire\/","is_active":false},{"id":90459,"title":"Making Fun of the Press","slug":"making-fun-of-the-press","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/making-fun-of-the-press\/","is_active":true},{"id":90464,"title":"Attacking Politicians: Who Gets Ridiculed?","slug":"attacking-politicians-who-gets-ridiculed","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/attacking-politicians-who-gets-ridiculed\/","is_active":false},{"id":90375,"title":"The Daily Show is NOT Journalism","slug":"the-daily-show-is-not-journalism","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/the-daily-show-is-not-journalism\/","is_active":false},{"id":90385,"title":"Like a Cable Talk Show","slug":"like-a-cable-talk-show","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/like-a-cable-talk-show\/","is_active":false},{"id":90398,"title":"Methodology","slug":"methodology-65-2","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/methodology-65-2\/","is_active":false},{"id":90407,"title":"Topline","slug":"topline-43","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/topline-43\/","is_active":false}],"report_materials":"","report_pagination":{"current_post":{"id":90459,"title":"Making Fun of the Press","slug":"making-fun-of-the-press","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/making-fun-of-the-press\/","is_active":true,"page_num":4},"next_post":{"id":90464,"title":"Attacking Politicians: Who Gets Ridiculed?","slug":"attacking-politicians-who-gets-ridiculed","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/attacking-politicians-who-gets-ridiculed\/","is_active":false,"page_num":5},"previous_post":{"id":90413,"title":"A Focus on Satire","slug":"a-focus-on-satire","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/a-focus-on-satire\/","is_active":false,"page_num":3},"pagination_items":[{"id":90445,"title":"Journalism, Satire or Just Laughs? \u201cThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart,\u201d Examined","slug":"journalism-satire-or-just-laughs-the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-examined","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/journalism-satire-or-just-laughs-the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-examined\/","is_active":false,"page_num":1},{"id":90452,"title":"What\u2019s On\u2014And What\u2019s Not On\u2014The Daily Show","slug":"whats-onand-whats-not-onthe-daily-show","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/whats-onand-whats-not-onthe-daily-show\/","is_active":false,"page_num":2},{"id":90413,"title":"A Focus on Satire","slug":"a-focus-on-satire","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/a-focus-on-satire\/","is_active":false,"page_num":3},{"id":90459,"title":"Making Fun of the Press","slug":"making-fun-of-the-press","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/making-fun-of-the-press\/","is_active":true,"page_num":4},{"id":90464,"title":"Attacking Politicians: Who Gets Ridiculed?","slug":"attacking-politicians-who-gets-ridiculed","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/attacking-politicians-who-gets-ridiculed\/","is_active":false,"page_num":5},{"id":90375,"title":"The Daily Show is NOT Journalism","slug":"the-daily-show-is-not-journalism","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/the-daily-show-is-not-journalism\/","is_active":false,"page_num":6},{"id":90385,"title":"Like a Cable Talk Show","slug":"like-a-cable-talk-show","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/like-a-cable-talk-show\/","is_active":false,"page_num":7},{"id":90398,"title":"Methodology","slug":"methodology-65-2","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/methodology-65-2\/","is_active":false,"page_num":8},{"id":90407,"title":"Topline","slug":"topline-43","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/08\/topline-43\/","is_active":false,"page_num":9}]},"parent_info":{"parent_title":"Journalism, Satire or Just Laughs? “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Examined","parent_id":90445},"materialsOrdered":[],"chaptersOrdered":[],"partsOrdered":[],"partsEnabled":false,"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Making Fun of the Press","description":"[1] How much is the media itself a subject? In 2007, the media was the direct subject in 8% of the content on the program. That is more than twice…","og_title":"Making Fun of the Press","og_description":"","schema_type":"Article","noindex":false,"canonical_url":"","primary_terms":[],"custom_schema":[],"og_image":0,"indexnow_submitted_at":null,"gsc_index_status":null},"prepublish_checks":{"prc-image-alt-text":{"status":"complete","message":"No image blocks in content.","data":null},"prc-about-this-research":{"status":"incomplete","message":"Add an \"About this research\" details block.","data":null},"prc-paragraph-count":{"status":"complete","message":"Found 9 paragraphs.","data":{"count":9}},"prc-internal-link":{"status":"incomplete","message":"Add at least one internal link.","data":{"count":0}}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"relatedPostsOrdered":[],"bylinesOrdered":[],"acknowledgementsOrdered":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90459"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130486,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90459\/revisions\/130486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90459"},{"taxonomy":"bylines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bylines?post=90459"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=90459"},{"taxonomy":"datasets","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/datasets?post=90459"},{"taxonomy":"level_of_effort","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/level_of_effort?post=90459"},{"taxonomy":"primary_audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primary_audience?post=90459"},{"taxonomy":"information_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/information_type?post=90459"},{"taxonomy":"_post_visibility","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_post_visibility?post=90459"},{"taxonomy":"formats","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/formats?post=90459"},{"taxonomy":"_fund_pool","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_fund_pool?post=90459"},{"taxonomy":"languages","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/languages?post=90459"},{"taxonomy":"regions-countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions-countries?post=90459"},{"taxonomy":"research-teams","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-teams?post=90459"},{"taxonomy":"workflow-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/workflow-status?post=90459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/strong><\/a>1. Available at: http:\/\/rhetorica.net\/archives\/002736.html
<\/a><\/a>2. Cable TV news in particular obsessed over the circumstances surrounding her death, devoting nearly a quarter (22%) of cable news airtime to Smith in the 3 weeks following her death.<\/p>\n\n