I just watched Jon Stewart skewer CNBC’s Jim “Mad Money” Cramer over his and the network’s reporting of the downturn in American economic markets. Cramer didn’t get to say much in his own defense, and it seemed there was little he could have said. Stewart was loaded for bear and Cramer hadn’t a chance. By the time it was over, Cramer was on a spit turning slowly over an open fire.
I’ve rarely seen Stewart as serious and on-point as he was this evening, and it felt good to see someone get taken to task for sloppy, misleading, and just plain wrong reporting, for turning something as important as financial news into entertainment, and for not double-checking the facts when he felt he was being lied to by some captain of industry.
Stewart was well prepared and angry; Cramer got ambushed. I’m not sure he deserved all the blame that was being heaped upon him, but he certainly wasn’t able to put up much of a defense for himself or his network.
Nice work, Mr. Stewart. The job needed doing and you did it quite well. Have you ever considered running for public office?
“Cramer was on a spit turning slowly over an open fire.” – *snort* I don’t know anything about this but I sure love the way you write! You, my dear- are hilarious!
The man deserves to be on a spit. In this day and age, if you hold yourself out to be a financial wizard, you damned sure better be scrupulously honest and forthcoming about everything. Entertainment be damned.
Stewart has been taking financial reporters in general to task lately. I recently saw a YouTube clip where he trashed a whole bunch of them.
They so deserve to be trashed! Humans make mistakes, but valuing entertainment over scrupulous reporting when someone else’s money is on the line is immoral.