Jon Stewart v. Ted Koppel

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Louis Proyect
To: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition
Date: Tue, 03 Aug 2004 10:35:00 -0400
Subject: [Marxism] Jon Stewart versus Ted Koppel

(Koppel will be a guest on the Daily Show this thursday.)

slate.com
Battle of the Network Anchors
Ted Koppel and Jon Stewart face off on the convention floor.
By Dana Stevens
Updated Friday, July 30, 2004, at 6:30 PM PT

Because of our predilection (scroll down to Wednesday's entry) for
watching convention coverage on the always-perverse MSNBC network,
Surfergirl did not catch the much discussed balloon mishap that had CNN
inadvertently broadcasting the shouted obscenities of a producer
immediately after John Kerry's speech. If only it were possible to
monitor all the channels at once from a wall-size bank of television
monitors, like a crazy millionaire in the movies! But, as has been noted
over and over this week, a modern political convention is a place where
unexpected things like Balloongate very rarely happen.

One exception was Ted Koppel's surprising encounter with The Daily
Show's Jon Stewart on the Wednesday night edition of Nightline. Koppel
was in Boston that night, covering … well, the coverage; the theme of
the show was "the Democratic National Convention through the eyes of the
beholders." I had tuned in mainly to watch what was billed as an
"interview" with Ana Marie Cox, aka Wonkette, the D.C.-based satirical
blogger hired this week by MTV to attract the nerdy blog-reading
demographic. As it turned out, Wonkette's appearance on Nightline
amounted to little more than a 20-second sound bite—something about her
Web site claiming to be no more than the journalistic equivalent of
candy, albeit a kind of candy that "takes a while to acquire a taste
for." (Mmm, gimme some.)

But after the commercial break, something unforeseeable happened on
Nightline: an anchorman showdown! What began as a casual
media-on-the-media puff piece turned into a fascinating five-minute
referendum on old and new ways of looking at the meaning and purpose of
television news. In a one-on-one chat on the deserted convention floor
after the day's festivities had ended, Koppel, in his low-key,
dignified, What-Me-Worry way, got medieval on Stewart's ass.

full: http://slate.msn.com/id/2104473/#koppel

---

NIGHTLINE TRANSCRIPT:

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) A lot of television viewers, more, quite frankly, than I'm
comfortable with, get their news from the comedy channel on a program
called "The Daily Show." Its host is Jon Stewart.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) You were telling me before, and it's a very interesting
concept, I'd like to steal it.

JON STEWART

Please. Please, feel free.

JON STEWART

(Off Camera) But you would only, you would draw everyone's attention to
it. You called this a product launch.

JON STEWART

Yes.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) This is like a product launch. What did you mean?

JON STEWART

It's not like a product launch.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) It is a product launch.

JON STEWART

It's a product launch.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) Tell me about it.

JON STEWART

The product is John Kerry, now with lemon, and they're launching what
they consider to be, look, they went through a primary where they, you
know, everybody was Taxi-Tested Tough, and they went through it. They've
come up with this candidate, John Kerry, who apparently was in Vietnam.
I don't know if you heard that.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) I heard that.

JON STEWART

They mentioned it earlier.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) They mentioned it once or twice.

JON STEWART

And what they're doing is now sort of, in the way that any company would
want to put its product in the best light, whether it be Toyota or
Tylenol, or the Democratic party, which is well within their right, and
probably what they should do. No one's going to bring him out there and
go, and by the way, in the back, there's a huge dent. You know, they're
going to want to show it at its finest.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) We used to come to, as we have both noted on separate
occasions, I'm a lot older than you are, but back, you know, back 40
years ago, we would actually come to these events in the expectation
that unexpected things were going to happen.

JON STEWART

But unexpected things used to happen in the world. They don't happen
anymore.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) Oh, sure they do.

JON STEWART

Very rarely. Very rarely is an event not parsed prior to when it
happens. And when it does happen unexpectedly, it's only because the
speculation was off cue.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) When there were only three of us, we were not as easy to
manipulate, because you could only play A off against B off against C.

JON STEWART

That I agree with.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) Right? Now you have got 200 of us. You don't like what Jon
Stewart is doing, go to John Lovitz.

JON STEWART

But we are a separate, we are a peripheral, we're a sundae bar, and I
don't think that, we're reactive, and not actual news. So I don't think,
if you don't like Jon Stewart, then you'll have to go to another comedy
program. Not another news program.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) You're refreshingly honest about that. And I appreciate
that. But the reality if it is, and it's no joke anymore, the reality of
it is that there are a lot people out there who do turn to you for ...

JON STEWART

Not for news.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) Well, they, they turn ...

JON STEWART

For an interpretation. For a comedic interpretation.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) To be informed. They actually think that they're coming
closer to the truth with your ...

JON STEWART

Now, that's a different thing. That's credibility. That's a different,
that's a different animal.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) Okay, that's what I want to you to try and get into a
little bit. This, this notion of, for example, people who listen to Sean
Hannity ...

JON STEWART

Yes.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) Also are looking for ...

JON STEWART

Want a narrative.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) ... a narrative.

JON STEWART

Right.

COMMENTATOR

(Off Camera) Al Franken ...

JON STEWART

Gives a narrative.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) Different group of people, different narrative. That's the
slice, so what I'm trying to get to here is, what is going on that is
different now with these literally, I don't think it's even hundreds
anymore, there are maybe close to a thousand outlets here.

JON STEWART

It's that, the partisan mobilization has become a part of the media
process. That they've realized that, this real estate that you possess,
television, is the most valuable real estate known to rulers. If
Alexander the Great had TV, believe me, he would have had his spin guys
dealing, you know, Napoleon would have had people working. The key to
leadership is to have that mouthpiece to the people, and that's what,
and that's what this is. You guys are, this is a battle for the
airwaves. And that's what we watch, and that's what's so, I think,
dispiriting, to those at home, who believe that, I think, there's a
sense here that you're not participating in that battle and there's a
sense at home watching it of you're absolutely participating and
complicit in that battle, in the sense of this.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) Go a little further, go a little further on that.

JON STEWART

I'm a news anchor. Remember, this is bizarro world. And I say, the issue
is healthcare. And insurance, and why 40 million American kids don't
have insurance, 40 million Americans are uninsured. Is this health
insurance program being debated in Congress good for the country? Let's
debate it. I have with me Donna Brazile and Bay Buchanan. Let's go.
Donna. I think the Democrats really have it right here. I think that
this is a, a pain to the insurance companies and to the drug companies
and I think it's wrong for America. Bay. Oh, no, no, no. That's
incorrect. What it is is, and then she throws out her figures from the
Heritage Foundation and she throws her figures from the Brookings
Institute, and the anchor, who should be the arbiter of the truth says,
thank you both very much. That was really interesting. No, it wasn't.
That was Coke and Pepsi talking about beverage truth. And that, that
game is what has, I think, caused people to go, I'm not watching this.

JON STEWART

(Off Camera) All right, so you have found an answer, through humor ...

JON STEWART

No. It's not an answer.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) ... no, well, a truth, an answer in the sense that through
humor ...

JON STEWART

I found an outlet. I found a catharsis, a sneeze, if you will.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) But it's not just a catharsis for you, it's a catharsis for
your viewers. Those who watch say at least when I'm watching Jon, he can
use humor to say, BS. You know, that's a crock.

JON STEWART

But that's always been the case. Satire has always been.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) Okay, but I can't, I can't do that.

JON STEWART

No. But you can say that's BS. You don't need humor to do it, because
you have, what I wish I had. Which is credibility, and gravitas, this is
interesting stuff. And it's all part of the discussion, and I think it's
a good discussion to have, but I also think that it's important to take
a more critical look, you know? Don't you think?

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) No.

JON STEWART

And certainly not from me.

TED KOPPEL

Not from you.

JON STEWART

I'm, I know my role. I am the dancing monkey.

TED KOPPEL

(Off Camera) I've had enough of you. You're done. You're finished. Thank
you, Jon.

JON STEWART

You're very welcome.


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