So Long, Jon
Who is the twenty-first century’s Edward Murrow? Walter Cronkite?
It’s probably not Brian Williams. Nor Dan Rather. Nor Peter Jennings or Tom Brokaw or Katie Couric, although they were and have been influential in their own right. The fact is that broadcast news has been mostly toothless (or plain wrong) for over a decade now, essentially a regurgitation of online headlines and government press conferences and g-rated YouTube clips. If you’ve wanted what broadcast news used to be—original, incisive, and fairly principled—you’ve had to look to the Daily Show and Jon Stewart.
And now he’s leaving. Let’s talk about that.
I first found Stewart around 2003. I was very young and didn’t follow the news that closely, but even then I got the sense that my government was making some very strange decisions. Believe it or not, it was a comedy show—it was Stewart—who first shined sustained light on the fact that not all was well in Iraq; that not everything about the Global War on Terror made sense. After 9/11, a paralyzing sort of fear blanketed American politics, extending into the mainstream media. Even modest questions and criticism (i.e. reporters doing their job) could seem tantamount to treason—to not standing “with” America in its time of crisis.
Stewart, the Daily Show, and his remarkable team of writers led the way in asking hard questions about the deteriorating security situation in Iraq; mounting IED attacks; stupid Donald Rumsfeld-era policies; the crisis of Abu Ghraib. Episode after episode, over a period of years, they peeled back the remarkable political obfuscations and double-speak that had permitted the “selling” of the Iraq War in the first place. As a whole, the Daily Show of the early and mid-2000s was a remarkable feat of sustained investigative journalism. The fact that they managed it with the highest proportion of profanity and potty humor among tv “news” shows? Even better.
Living in a place where everyone voted straight line Republican and very few cared to ask what was up with “enhanced interrogation” or “terror alert” color charts or any of the other crazy shit that I grew up with, Stewart was a nightly ray of sanity.
Beyond (or in spite) of all this, it was Stewart and the gang who got me interested in politics and why societies do what they do. I was still rewatching the Indecision 2004 box set years later, laughing at the fun and games of it. I convinced my AP Government teacher to let me show the whole (uncensored) set as a way to educate the class on party conventions and electoral politics. When we got to the Lewis Black monologues, I skipped the DVD over the bad words. There was a lot of skipping.
When Barack Obama assumed office in 2009 and people said the world was perfect now, critics opined that Stewart would starve for material, stuck between obsolescence or alienating his primarily Democratic viewership. Not so! They hadn’t reckoned on Jim Cramer-crazy and the financial crash; the rise of the Tea Party; the screaming ascent of Bullshit Mountain. From 2009 onward, Stewart shifted his sights to hyperpartisanship and media manipulation (two phenomena that are tightly, tightly bound). He’s had endless targets who have seemed dead and determined to compound their crazy.
Stewart’s net political impact, his following? Unbelievable! Incalculable! There’s just one question: why the hell is he going NOW???
I think one answer is: because it’s time. The fact is that Bullshit Mountain may not go anywhere, but reporting on endless torrents of, well, bullshit, can eventually drag. The 2016 presidential election will surely be interesting and entertaining, but not in the ways that make sense for the Daily Show. For several reasons (mostly because the country has shifted while he’s stayed in the same place), the Jon Stewart of 2015 seems a lot more partisan than the Stewart of 2000 or even 2004. Stewart’s now overwhelmingly Democratic audience would certainly tolerate the occasional jab at their candidate-in-waiting (albeit with stretched and pained sorts of smiles), but they’d expect him to move quickly back to his assigned role—ribbing stupid politicians at the Republicans’ expense.
And he already told people over a decade ago: that’s not his job. “I’m not going to be your monkey.” The Daily Show has never existed exclusively to attack the right. There’s no reason to be put in that position now.
Then there’s the other, best, simplest answer for why Stewart’s calling it quits: because the guy’s spent nearly 17 years on the job!!! Cronkite only spent 19 years at the anchor desk. And “basic cable” had a slightly different meaning when there were only three channels to choose from.
What does Stewart leave behind? I can’t even begin to piece together that legacy. All I’ll say is that it’s thanks to Stewart that the Late Show is going to be badass again. It’s thanks to Stewart that widely watched, lengthy, thought-provoking journalism has survived Web 2.0 and broadcast news’ “dumbification” and the slide toward internet instant gratification. The kicker? This in depth reporting is also great comedy!
Holy shit I’m going to miss the Daily Show. But Stewart? Stewart is 52 years old and funny and brilliant and not one to keep his mouth shut. Whether Death to Smoochy 2 or otherwise, we’ll see him again. And he’ll keep being awesome.