Change is good...so they say, and we all need to cross a new street every once in awhile...but this week's news that Jon Stewart will exit his chair at The Daily Show after 17 years is a change I'm not ready to accept. I am a news junkie-always have been, but as the world spins wild and broadcast news, whatever that might mean these days, became more and more about makeup and blow drys and perfect faces rather than telling the story I switched off.
My
respect for journalism has not waned, though my respect for news
broadcasting has. After Sept 11 as the word grew so dark and so serious
we all needed to lighten our world... we needed to be informed, but not
assaulted, and we needed truth without packaged
alarmist presentations. Growing up in post Watergate America may
have shaped my respect and passion for news, but how that news reaches us has changed so dramatically and there is little trust left.
Jon Stewart, in a Mad Magazine/ Weekend Update irreverence said you know
what, this world is just too crazy not to laugh at it...and so by laughing he revealed what real journalism should always present ...the truth.
I don't need to hear/see "breaking news" every four and a half seconds and I don't need overdrive or over load or over hype. News is about telling a story, and telling the truth...and sometimes the truth can best be found in brilliant satire. That is what Jon Stewart delivers night after night and why his retiring from Comedy Central's The Daily Show hurts so much. Politics, war, crises at every turn...nothing makes too much sense ...unless of course you can laugh at it. Now more than ever Jon we need you! I cannot imagine going through the next election cycle without you....Stay Jon, Stay!
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