Cramer vs. Stewart

I don't like Troy Patterson's writing because I don't think it is very clear. As far as I am concerned, when someone name-checks Jürgen Habermas in a piece about "The Daily Show" it just alienates most people. Having said that, Patterson is pretty direct in describing John Stewart's argument from last night:

The notion was that the networks, being aware of a gap between image and reality that they had steadfastly refused to address in their coverage, had abdicated their journalistic responsibilities..."

I think that going any further than this wouldn't be helpful. It's easy for people on the left, like me, to suggest that CNBC had slipped into a propaganda outfit. It's easy to cynically assert that they did this to better accomodate the advertisers that their company depends on. These points are arguable. That they stopped serving as a good faith provider of news is not and that's damning enough.