Latest News → MediaWire

Stewart’s best lines to Wallace on ‘Fox News Sunday’

Jim Romenesko by Jim Romenesko Published June 20, 2011 10:05 am Updated June 21, 2011 12:41 pm

Daily Kos | Mediaite.com | Entertainment Weekly
Ken Tucker says Jon Stewart’s appearance on “Fox News Sunday” was “one of the best interviews Stewart has given articulating his views” and that the Comedy Central host “came as close as I have seen to losing his temper” when he told Chris Wallace: “Who has the most consistently misinformed media viewers? Fox. Fox viewers. Consistently. Every poll.” Here’s what else he told Wallace:

* I think that you are here in some respects to bring a credibility and an integrity to an organization that might not otherwise have it, without your presence. So, you are here as a counterweight to Hannity, let’s say, or a counterweight to Glenn Beck.

* Being a comedian is harder than what you do. What I do is much harder. I put material through a process, a comedic process.

* The embarrassment is that I’m given credibility in this world because of the disappointment that the public has in what the news media does.

* There’s no question that I don’t tell the full story. I mean, I don’t disagree with that. But I don’t not tell the full story based on a purely ideological partisan agenda.

* The bias of the mainstream media — oh, I’m not saying it’s defensible, but the bias of the mainstream media is toward sensationalism, conflict and laziness.

* I think that the majority of people working in [media] probably hold liberal viewpoints, but I don’t think that they are as relentlessly activist as the conservative movement that has risen up over the last 40 years.

Update: PolitiFact to Jon Stewart: Not true that Fox News viewers are “most consistently misinformed”

Tags: , ,

ADVERTISEMENT

We have made it easy to comment on posts, however we require civility and encourage full names to that end (first initial, last name is OK). Please read our guidelines here before commenting.

  • Anonymous

    yay!!! Jon Stewart! He’s so awesome.. He’s so smart.. I hang on his every word… He’s like Jesus walking on water, except for that he can’t and he’s not Jesus… But other than that, he’s like a disciple or something.. Like from the bible and stuff…

    Yay!!

  • Anonymous

    Sick of hearing about Jon Stewart. As for the poll on “misinformed” FOX News viewers, those polls tend to be done by biased political institutions who use misleading questions — to smear FOX News. Even so, he forgot about the polls that show a large number of Democrats and MSNBC viewers believe Bush and Cheney were behind 9-11.

  • Anonymous

    Thank you for sharing your valuable insight.

    – MrJM

  • Anonymous

    The most amazing thing about this exchange is how it was portrayed on the Fox5 late news in Washington.
    Not as a smack down, but as proof that liberals and libertarians can get along. None of Stewart’s incendiary soundbites were played. None of Wallace’s nastier questions, just this one: “Have you EVER voted for a Republican?” “HW”, answers Stewart. They let Stewart say his piece about being a comedian not a pol and ended with a smiling handshake. Is this the beginning of a new era of peace and love?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504633504 Dan Mitchell

    Do you have a citation for something that indicates what percentage of MSNBC viewers believe in 911 conspiracies? “Large number” doesn’t really tell us anything. Or, for that matter, citations of something indicating the “bias” in poll questions you refer to? Because most of the studies I’ve seen regarding the relative ignorance of Fox viewers were conducted by major, reputable polling operations or academic social scientists. The most recent well-known one was conducted by the University of Maryland, and it was pretty bulletproof from what I remember. Fox itself could find no fault with the study itself, so it went after the University of Maryland’s *academic ranking.* Oh, and by the way, in doing so — and here’s a shocker — it lied about the University of Maryland’s academic ranking.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=67500386 Brian Shea

    A “large number” of people also watch “Jersey Shore.”

  • Anonymous

    You’re very welcome, MrJM… I’m just spreading the gospel of Jon Stewart…

    I just think if everyone knew just how awesome Jon Stewart was, well, we could get become a lot smarter and we could all get along… I mean, it’s like the guy splices DNA on his show every evening, what, with his witty, formulaic, predictable political comments and all… He’s just.. gosh… The best thing to ever happen to the world!!!! Except for Jonas Salk’s vaccine against polio but then he’s probably better than that..!!!

    I’d probably never have to see another Jon Stewart performance in my life to know exactly what he’s thinking at any moment, because he’s just that awesome and predictable!! Isn’t he dreamy?

  • Anonymous

    I did as much citation as Jon Stewart bothered to do. And by the way, your use of “lie” is so knee-jerk leftist. As is any poll which seeks to connect causation with news-channel preference.

  • Anonymous

    Bottom line: Wallace erred by giving 15 minutes or so to the nation’s political clown. This is a Sunday morning news show. Not a place for a comedian who was in “Death to Smoochy.”

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504633504 Dan Mitchell

    I’m not sure what you’re going for here, but you just come off as callow and empty. If you don’t have any ammo, it’s usually best not to try shooting. (I mean, just Ask Jolene.)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504633504 Dan Mitchell

    I’m not a “leftist.” The lie is on the record. But no amount of reality will work on you, obviously.

  • Larry Maxcy

    This is a news show? Really?

  • Anonymous

    A 2007 Rasmussen poll found that 35% of Dems thought Bush was in on 9-11.

    http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/bush_administration/22_believe_bush_knew_about_9_11_attacks_in_advance

    More:

    “But before liberals begin to smirk, here’s a poll from 2007, in which 35 percent of Democrats said that President Bush knew in advance about the 9/11 attacks, and 26 percent were not sure.”
    Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2009/07/birthers-why-didnt-truthers-get-all-attention#ixzz1Pqc1cQi6

  • Anonymous

    you’re right Dan. You couldn’t possibly know.  And “callow”? Really? Cracked open a dictionary for that one, I bet…

    But back to my diatribe about Jon Stewart… As I was saying…

  • http://profiles.google.com/rp509855 Rod Paul

    That the poll where they asked the question in such a way that a “yes” indicated that the respondent was aware that Bush had been warned about an imminent attack and did nothing about it?

    Anyone “no sure” or below simply hadn’t paid attention to the facts in evidence well before 2007.

    Now, how many Fox viewers in 2007 still believed Saddam was behind 9/11 – long after even Bush had admitted there was no evidence to connect Saddam to 9/11?

  • http://twitter.com/BrotherMatthias Jonathan Matthias

    Jon Stewart and his staff refuse to book conservative comedian — then get comedian’s manager to drop him.

    http://pajamasmedia.com/andrewklavan/2011/06/20/jon-stewart-bully/

    Have you no decency, Jon Stewart?

  • Anonymous

    I have listened to Chris Wallace less than a dozen times. I believe that imbecility is contagious and try to avoid them. Every year or so I will view him. It doesn’t seem that he is  getting worse but it is hard to tell. I may catch him on especially good days.

  • F. Douglas

    Politifact has decreed Jon Stewart’s statement that those who watch Fox News are the “most consistently misinformed media viewers” is “false.”

    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/jun/20/jon-stewart/jon-stewart-says-those-who-watch-fox-news-are-most/

    Stewart likely is basing his argument on the University of Maryland study that is mentioned here. And that study, is not, as has been claimed, “bullet-proof.” That is laughable. Many people have pointed out the flaws in the methodology, including David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun. Fortunately, we have a few journalists like Zurawik who are willing to be skeptical about these pre-determined “studies,” even if they conflict with what most journalists might want them to “prove” about the people they disagreed with. That’s real journalism

    http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2010/12/survey_on_fox_news_who_defines.html

  • Anonymous

    My favorite part has to be the journalists who cheer on Jon Stewart as he calls them and their profession sensationalist, conflictive, and lazy. I find it impossible to even begin to map the calculus of what bad journalism has done to the world just in my lifetime, but I’d never say it’s because of laziness.

blog comments powered by Disqus