The Sad State of the Fourth Estate

They call it “comedy.” They call it “fake news.” What we saw last night on The Daily Show, though, was neither fake nor funny (well, a little funny.) Last night, Jon Stewart was joined by Jim Cramer, former hedgefund manager and current host of CNBC’s “Mad Money.” This interview was a week in the making, after Rick Santelli cancelled on an appearance that would have coincided with a scathing piece The Daily Show had assembled about CNBC’s failure to see the financial crisis coming, warn their viewers, and then admit their obvious mistakes and place blame anywhere near where it belongs. Jim Cramer took particular offense to the implication and took his views public on his NBC sister stations, thus incurring an even better response from Jon Stewart and The Daily Show.

Anyone who hasn’t seen this interview really should, regardless of their interest in finances or in The Daily Show, because it is a bold example of something that The Daily Show is rarely credited with and so many actual news programs are lacking: journalism. Jon Stewart brought Jim Cramer on who, to his credit, had accepted the invitation to discuss the issues face to face rather than continuing the back-and-forth in the media sphere and the two of them discussed Stewart’s initial point about the state of business reporting at CNBC. What Jim Cramer and many of the people reporting on this interview missed was the broader point about the state of journalism. For all of the talk about liberal media and its fringe views, the fact is that the Fourth Estate has never been more corporate. Newspapers, cable news, even blogs are often beholden to corporate parents and sponsors to operate, and as the economy has worsened and traditional models have become obsolete, they’ve had their resources diminished.

Recently, newspapers that have lasted more than a century have folded under the economic pressures, and even biggest cable news networks have had to cut staff and close bureaus around the world. As their budgets have been scaled back, the budgets of corporate PR divisions and firms have risen and gotten better at delineating information as they want it to be seen. That has left the public in a dangerous position where they are under-informed yet always inundated with talk. News outlets, afraid of losing what little influence and access they have, and unable or unwilling to do the serious, long-term investigation they were once famous for, have now traded excellence for efficiency. Stories with an easy angle are repeated ad nauseam; boisterous personalities are given priority over knowledgeability; softball interviews are offered in exchange for access to the biggest names.

What Jon Stewart demonstrated is what people like Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite were famous for: speaking truth to power. Jim Cramer himself as well as being a representative of CNBC has influence and authority in the business community, and as such has a responsibility that both he and his network failed to honor. Additionally, as a journalist, he failed to ask the tough questions, dig deeper, and find the truth before reporting to his audience. If he had, he might have had a better, more informed opinion to give to people who rely upon or value his financial advice. Instead, as he said on The Daily Show, he would give a forum for business leaders who would lie to him and then he would share that information - without question or critical investigation - with an audience that took his authority and certitude for veracity.

In today’s White House briefing, one reporter even praised Jon Stewart’s demonstration of serious journalism in a question to Press Secretary Gibbs. What does it say about the state of our media when a White House reporter, a post given normally to the most inquiring of serious journalist, praises a supposed mere comedian? It says that in the 21st century the satirist is alive and well while the traditional investigate reporter is threatened with replacement by news spokespeople. Many of the people we find reporting the news are doing simply that: reporting what they are told, and not trying to find the stories or uncover the truth.

It’s easy to marginalize The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, but in the guise of comedy, they are often more willing and more able to speak the hard truths. The Daily Show, as an entertainment and comedy program, doesn’t rely on getting access to CEO’s or politicians, so they can ask the hard questions without fear of being cut-off. What Jim Cramer, CNBC, and the mainstream media need to remember is that just as they need stories, there are people who need their stories told. The folks at CNBC may want big-name guests to interview, but at the same time those big-names need the pulpit that CNBC provides. It is a mutual relationship and though in recent years the power has shifted away from the news outlets and to those being covered, the media need only remember that they are the gatekeepers to the public forum and that their is always an audience for hard news. For evidence look no further than the ratings Jon Stewart received on Thursday night, and the ratings points that CNBC has been losing since this all began.