These days with the world saturated with minute-by-minute 'news coverage' of everything from a kitten lost inside a coach to the global financial meltdown the average consumer of news is often left more confused than illuminated about what's happening in his/her world.And it's not always easy to sift through the "news jockeys" and the "real journalists" to find the news.
For example, CNBC markets itself as one of the world's leaders for business news. But it doesn't always deliver the goods. At least that's the way the Daily Show's Jon Stewart sees it. He took issue with one CNBC show in particular - Mad Money and its host Jim Cramer.
And after a very public feud between the two hosts of the competing networks Cramer showed up on the set of The Daily Show for the final showdown, which turned out a bit one-sided with Stewart on the offensive and Cramer struggling to offer a credible defence of his network and his show.
Stwart hammered Cramer and his network, repeatedly chastising the "Mad Money" host for putting entertainment above journalism.
"I understand that you want to make finance entertaining, but it's not a ... game," Stewart told Cramer, who acknowledged that sometimes he didn't get it right. "I am trying, I am trying," he said defensively.
In the days preceding Thursday night's encounter between the two men Stewart had taken Cramer to task by saying he and CNBC reporters befriended Wall Street executives and former government officials instead of questioning them as journalists should.
Cramer, who offers advice and stock market tips on his CNBC show fought back, saying Stewart chose only examples of bad advice Cramer had given.
"I think everyone could come in under criticism. We all should have seen it before," Cramer said about the reporting of the financial crisis. "Everybody got it wrong. I got a lot of things wrong."
Stewart said financial reporters like Cramer and others on CNBC should have taken the time to uncover financial shenanigans and not have been so quick to trust business executives and government officials.
"The financial news industry is not just guilty of a sin of omission but a sin of commission," Stewart charged, sounding more like an investigative journalist than the host of a comedy news show.
Cramer was uncomfortable and offered a lame defence. "The market was going up for a long time and our real sin, I think, was to think it could continue to go up a lot," he explained, adding that many financial executives "lied to us".
In the end, the two agreed the financial press corps should refocus on asking hard questions of top executives instead of just taking their word at face value.
"Maybe we can ... start getting back to fundamentals on the reporting, and I can go back to making fart noises and funny faces," Stewart said.
"I think we can make a deal right here," Cramer said, and the two shook hands. Stewart closed the show with this quip: "I hope that was as uncomfortable to watch as it was to do."
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