With those three words, Jon Stewart knocked Crossfire off the air. It was glorious to behold. Not quite "tear down this wall" or "have you no sense of decency," but still. Those of us who lived through the dark times thought Tucker Carlson's reign of terror would never end. We pinched ourselves, not believing it was really over (I follow the Moskva, down to Gahrky pahrk...).
Crossfire had become a symbol of everything that is wrong with television journalism. Public relations masquerading as public interest, where corporate interests and their advertising dollars get softball questions and a free pass. They made the fatal mistake of bringing Stewart on the program. A Trojan Rabbit. Stewart went off script. In the tradition of the court jester, he spoke truth to power. The rest is history.
The show would eventually recover, but Carlson would not. Crossfire slinked back onto the air after an eight year hiatus with new hosts. Carlson was last seen on Fox News begging for change and ranting about Vince Foster. Maybe he and Matt Drudge can form a ventriloquist act where one drinks a glass of water while the other tells Monica Lewinsky jokes. Which one is the dummy? They both are.
Jon Stewart. Carrier of the Gleaming Sword of Truth.
Well, maybe not.
Have a seat, because I have some bad news.
The Daily Show (and its Comedy Central running mate The Colbert Report) have been praised for holding television journalists to a higher standard, or at least holding them up for ridicule. A modern day Mark Twain or Art Buchwald, continuing a tradition of political satire that stretches all the way back to Juvenal. The cure for the inexcusable sloppy work of the Fourth Estate in the 21st century.
Stewart certainly deserves credit for engaging a younger viewing audience, a demographic that has become increasingly cynical of if not downright disinterested in national politics. But the Daily Show isn't the cure for bad journalism, it's more of the disease. It gives me no joy to write that. Not only is it a fun show, but Stewart is a genuinely smart guy. Additionally, one does not cross his fans lightly. I guarantee, drooling Daily Show fanboys are already conspiring against LabKitty and organizing a boycott because of my transgression. (Go look down in the comments. Go on. See the complete lack of comments? Boycott.) Most of these people are not ready to be unplugged.
The disease was diagnosed 30 years ago by Neil Postman, who spent a career at NYU warning us about the danger. His best-known work is Amusing Ourselves to Death. In it, he describes the harm television has done (and continues to do) to the national psyche. His thesis is easy to misunderstand. Postman isn't a snob. He isn't a scold. He posits television is harmful not because it is garbage, but because it pretends to be anything but garbage. The Kardashians, or The Jersey Shore, or American Idol, or Married with Children, or MTV do not pose a threat to democracy. The evening news does. The MacNeil-Lehrer Hour does. Meet the Press does. Crossfire does.
The Daily Show does.
The threat comes in the guise of a misinformed citizenry. Television is not well suited for information exchange. On the other hand, television is superbly suited for entertainment. Eventually, Postman explains, entertainment becomes impossible to distinguish from information. Eventually, entertainment is treated as if it is information. The public is not merely not-informed, it is misinformed. And a misinformed citizenry is incompatible with democracy.
Three examples. Remember when the History channel used to have shows about history? Compare what they do now with any history textbook. Compare the Nat Geo Channel with National Geographic magazine. One is photojournalism. The other is reality TV with bugs. Stewart has made jokes about the 9/11 Commission on his show. How many of his viewers can describe the commission report in any detail? How many of them -- inspired by Stewart's lampoon -- purchased a copy and read it? Very few, I suspect.<
This is the Postman effect. A dumbing down, a glossing over. And this isn't to pick on TLC or National Geographic or Jon Stewart. It's not their fault. It's the nature of the beast. You can't change the beast; the beast changes you.
It would be a non-issue if the damage was limited to Nazi UFOs and ghost hunts in Machu Picchu. But television has poisoned public discourse on the public's business. In every sphere, and at every level. The Daily Show and the evening news are equally dangerous because both give the viewer a false sense of comprehension. Stewart cannot be given a pass simply because he makes you laugh. Ultimately, his show may well be the more harmful because it subverts accountability. Sure, George Bush may have invaded Iraq on false pretenses, but hoo-boy did you see Stewart give him what-for last night! This is what passes for accountability in 21st-century America.
As Postman explains, television is incompatible with comprehension. Structurally. Fundamentally. Quintessentially. It can entertain. It cannot inform. What's the real solution to the damage it's doing? There is no solution. Postman knew this. He admits as much in AOtD. There is no solution because the disease attacks the very thing necessary to fight the disease. Like HIV attacking the immune system, television's assault on rational public discourse will never end because rational public discourse is needed to end it. The only comfort is that we at least know how things will end, and why. The only question is when.
Here lies democracy. Amused itself to death.
See Amusing Ourselves to Death on Amazon
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