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Entries in Jim Cramer (7)

Monday
Mar162009

Flashback: Jon Stewart, Politics, and Crossfire in 2004

Related Post: Jon Stewart: Can “Mainstream” Media Put Him Back in His Box?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE[/youtube]

One of the delicious ironies of the post-mortem of The Daily Show-CNBC clash, which we've covered elsewhere this morning, was the appearance of puffed-up talking head Tucker Carlson. Carlson, who rose to small-screen prominence in the 1990s pundit explosion with a distinctive appearance (his bowtie) rather than any expertise or insight, had Jon Stewart all figured out as a "partisan demagogue":
[Jim Cramer's] real sin was attacking Obama's economic policies. If he hadn't done that, Stewart never would have gone after him. Stewart's doing Obama's bidding. It's that simple.

To be fair to Carlson, who in no way is a partisan demagogue, he may still be smarting from a 2004 incident during his short-lived tenure as co-host of Crossfire on CNN. In a few minutes, Stewart --- no doubt as a comic rather than as a "serious" observer --- took apart the artifice of "political" commentary. Crossfire, which had been a useful forum for debate with Tom Braden and Pat Buchanan in the previous decade but which had become a shouting pit with the likes of Carlson, was soon cancelled.
Monday
Mar162009

Jon Stewart: Can "Mainstream" Media Put Him Back in His Box?

Related Post: Flashback - Jon Stewart, Politics, and Crossfire in 2004

stewart-cramer1For a sharp-eyed, detailed examination of the issues of collusion between business and media highlighted by Stewart, see the analysis on Naked Capitalism.

One of the side effects of The Daily Show's takedown of financial pundits, and specifically CNBC and Jim Cramer, has been a sustained attempt by "proper" journalists to put Jon Stewart back into a comedian's chair. Leave aside, for the moment, the noticeable silence of the immediate victim, CNBC, and its partner channels NBC and MSNBC. Consider instead the Twitterings of media monitor Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post:
I depict Stewart as an avenging media critic, saying what others can't or won't, but of course he can fall back on "I'm just on a comic".

Of course Stewart, as a non-journalist, doesn't have to be balanced or give [the] other side.

Artificial "balance" can be silly when facts are on one side. But journalists, unlike comics, have an obligation to include the other side.

What Kurtz is spectacularly missing, in the CNBC incident, is that most "journalists" failed to pick up on the seriousness of the economic situation, accentuated by speculation, some very dodgy financial and investment practices, and a lack of regulation.

In a Post article, Kurtz did offer the anodyne statement, "Business journalists generally failed to anticipate the magnitude of the Wall Street collapse," but he was blind to the sharper point of Stewart's critique: in some cases, business journalists walked hand-in-hand with the markets and investors they were supposedly observing. As long as the market rose and the shakiness of the loan structure was not exposed, everyone could be blissfully happy; the only problem was when the economic walls came tumbling down.

That's when Stewart's line, "It's not a f****** game," is not just a shriek of anger (again, as the media is framing it); it is the pertinent point that the "mainstream" media didn't make. Indeed, they dare not make it because the questions raised about the system fuelling the artifice of wealth would have been too daunting.

Stewart did not choose to be the point-man on this journalistic challenge; had Cramer kept his mouth shut at the start of last week, this would have been a (very good) one-off Daily Show shot at financial expertise. But, when Cramer's snide retort at the "variety show" of a "comedian" opened up the issue, Stewart on the challenge.

He did so seriously. Effectively. Critically. And, if the "journalists" fail in the future to do their job, I will be grateful if he does so again.
Sunday
Mar152009

Coming Soon: Jim Cramer, Master TV Critic

Latest Post: Mad Money Meltdown - Jim Cramer, CNBC, TheStreet.com In Intensive Care

No doubt Jim Cramer will bounce back from his slap-down by Jon Stewart --- bigger, badder, and louder than ever --- on his Mad Money finanicial advice programme on CNBC next week. But on the off chance that he gives up his stock-market game, he's got a fall-back position.

Here Jim gives his best friend, James Altucher of TheStreet.com, a lesson in how to read The Sopranos, using personal experience (you know, making millions of dollars in a single day) to illuminate the series:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQe8k_FZHeQ[/youtube]
Sunday
Mar152009

Mad Money Meltdown: Jim Cramer, CNBC, TheStreet.com In Intensive Care

Related Post: Coming Soon - Jim Cramer, Master TV Critic

stewart-cramerOne can only hope that The Daily Show and Jon Stewart show some mercy towards Jim Cramer, if not the world of financial "experts", after last week's pummeling of the Mad Money host/former hedge fund manager/general shyster.

Cramer skipped a Saturday morning appearance on CNBC's news partner, MSNBC. CNBC refused any comment on the Friday night Stewart-Cramer interview, and producers at MSNBC muzzled their reporters, telling them not to mention the event.

The Chief Executive Officer at TheStreet. com, the stock market advice site founded by Cramer, has resigned. On Friday, Stewart left Cramer gasping for air with a video in which Jim told TheStreet.com of techniques to manipulate the stock market and undermine the stock price of individual firms.

And here's a wonderful twist in the tale. On TheStreet.com James Altucher, the employee getting schooled by Cramer, has posted a video "Defending Jim" (presumably Cramer, but also possibly himself).

Only problem: no sound.
Friday
Mar132009

UPDATED Showdown with Mad Money: Jon Stewart Interviews CNBC's Jim Cramer

Latest Post: Coming Soon - Jim Cramer, Master TV Critic
Latest Post: Mad Money Meltdown - Jim Cramer, CNBC, TheStreet.com In Intensive Care

After a week dissecting CNBC's financial advice, and in particular the "expertise" of Mad Money host Jim Cramer, Jon Stewart of The Daily Show enticed Cramer into the studio. The interview is more hard-hitting than humourous, but Stewart's exposure of the investment house of cards is even better than the satire of the last seven days: "It is a game that you know is going on....but you go on television as a financial network and pretend isn't happening....It's Not a f****** game."

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