After having a go at the US media yesterday, I have to salute one of the truly great American newsmen, who presents a show on the Comedy Channel. Yes, I'm talking about Jon Stewart. People have said that it's a poor reflection on the US media that one of the most probing mainstream journalists is ostensibly a comedian/entertainer when many of the supposedly more serious journalists churn out stuff that is, well, comical in its worth. But that is unfair to Stewart. For all his charm and inflected irony he is a proper, responsible journalist who doesn't make a song and dance about the fact. While it's true that Stewart has a team of researchers and writers that most journalists don't have, his sense of probity and his skill at calmly outlining an argument marks him out from the rest of the field. He was one of the few in the mainstream US media
to question Israel's murderous pummelling of Gaza and last week he demolished 'death panel' guru Betsy McCaughey, who, for all her mendacity and hyperbole, is a formidable adversary. It's a long debate but worth a watch. The US needs more journalists like Stewart and more networks and media outlets willing to air dissent. And I have to lift my cap to Comedy Central for its sensible and generous policy of allowing others to embed its videos.
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