Last week Jon Stewart turned his satirical eye toward financial new network CNBC. The bit was picked up by the news media and led to Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s Mad Money, rebutting the charges. Of course, it didn’t end there; barbs were traded between Cramer and the show until it all came to a head Thursday night.

Cramer went on The Daily Show for an extended interview with Jon Stewart. Many were expecting some sort of public lynching, but what we got was a very serious discussion. Stewart called Cramer out on some contradictory and morally dubious behaviour, but he saved most of his venom for CNBC as a whole.

What I think is so great about Jon Stewart is that he’s often more offended by the media than the politicians they cover. I’m beginning to think that Stewart needs to start getting even more critical of new organizations. He is in a unique position where he has a very loyal audience of the very same demographic who are more and more turned off by the modern news media. He should harness that audience in a call for real change.

24-hour news networks have been at the forefront of destroying the relevance of the media. The need to fill seventeen hours every day with news, while also attempting to make that news entertaining has subverted the role of the media. Instead of attempting to uncover the truth in stories, networks like CNN have taken to paraphrasing press releases and then getting “expert” analysis. They tend to forego the asking of meaningful and pointed questions on the topics that matter.

Instead of uncovering the destructive games being played by investors and banks on Wall St., over the last ten years CNBC has been playing into their hands by promoting the speculators’ market. These are the people that knew of the ethically challenged tactics being used to create money in the short term, yet they chose to egg on that behaviour. When the country’s leading financial news network chooses to help bolster a culture of bad investment and near-illegal practices of trading there is something seriously wrong.

Stewart, in attacking CNBC for their lack of journalistic integrity leading up to the recent economic collapse, is attempting to take down the culture in the media that has become complacent. He truly is the last big crusader for a responsible news media, and he has been for a long time. I can only hope that with the big coverage his feud with Cramer and CNBC that Jon is able to raise the eyebrows of a few more people.

I really believe that if more people watched The Daily Show the media would be forced to change their ways. That likely won’t happen, but maybe Cramer will change – he promised he would try – and maybe he will bring moderate change to CNBC. It’s a lot to put on the shoulders of a comedian, but in a world where the news media seems more interested in its ratings and entertainment value than on truly great journalism it seems Jon Stewart may be our last hope.

You can check out the full, uncut interview here

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Tags: cnbc, jim cramer, jon stewart

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