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| Image: Ogoly.com "The voice of a generation, so long as they aren't protesting?" |
Article from:http://www.ology.com
Why Isn't 'The Daily Show' Covering Occupy Wall Street?
Whether or not you think the Occupy Wall Street protests are effective, you can't deny that they are news. They've been covered by most of the major networks and newspapers at this point. Even NPR, who initially released a statement explaining why they weren't covering the protests, have decided that the story is too big to ignore. However, one major news source has continued to ignore the protests, and it may not be the one you'd expect: The Daily Show. That's right, America's most trusted newsman and the sarcastic voice of a generation Jon Stewart has stayed silent on a group of protesters who probably all watch his show.
Even more interesting, The Daily Show's silence on Occupy Wall Street seems to go even further than just plain ignoring the protests. If you do a search for "Occupy Wall Street Daily Show," you'll find several results from the show's official forum. These were threads in the "Story Ideas" section, but all of them have been deleted. Several more Occupy Wall Street threads have popped up there again (like I said, Daily Show fans and Occupy Wall Street protesters have a lot of overlap) without any official response from the show or the forum moderators.
One popular theory is that Jon Stewart won't report on the protests because he believes all protesting is a form of extremism. This was a message he repeated many times during the advent of the Tea Party as well as the situation in Wisconsin. It was also part of the message of his "Rally To Restore Sanity" this summer. It's likely that if he took his usual stance against Occupy Wall Street, he would probably piss off the studio audience, many of whom may know or actually be protesters. There's also a theory that Jon Stewart is merely a puppet of his corporate overlords and would never do anything to offend them, but that seems a little over the top.
It's extremely possible that Stewart will host a segment on Occupy Wall Street tonight and render this whole discussion moot, but you have to wonder why he seems to be dodging this story. One of the reasons Stewart is so popular is because he doesn't seem to avoid difficult subjects. He covered the story about his friend and former Congressman Anthony Weiner's penis, for God's sake. Even if his take won't be popular with the audience, this is a situation that Stewart needs to address or risk losing his credibility. Until then, we can at least watch Colbert poke fun at the protests:
ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE
Jon Stewart's brother Larry Leibowitz is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the New York Stock Exchange.
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