Monday, March 16, 2009

A Dear Jon to the Media

Dear TV News Media,

Hi, this is the millennial generation and I think we should talk. I know that we’ve been growing more distant over the years. And well, try as you might, you have no idea how to give us what we want – though we tell you that it’s just for you to do your job – so we (the largest generation in American history) are leaving you. Also, we’d like to say that it’s not us, it’s you. In fact, it’s pretty much all your fault.

FOX, we never really liked you anyways; even young conservatives change the channel. MSNBC, Brokaw was great, but when was the last time Chris Matthews didn’t talk? CNBC, you’re so done, sorry. CNN, nobody likes Lou Dobbs; seriously who watches that? And the “No Bias, No Bull” with Campbell Brown... please just call it the News with Campbell Brown. Finally, C-Span and BBC, any chance we can find you in the HD channels? I’m kidding... not really though.

You tried to win us back CNN, when you tried “D. L. Hughley Breaks the News,” but what we love about guys like Jon Stewart is not just the funny, but also the actual news. Why, we ask again and again and again: why do we hear about the most important news items to us from JON and not YOU? Why do we get insightful opinion from JON and not YOU? We know the Daily Show is not news, and we don’t really want it to be either (and neither does Jon for that matter). But YOU drop the ball seemingly every time! So what choice do we have?

Stewart’s most recent interview with Jim Cramer is a great example of our problem here, but for a reason you might not expect. You didn’t get what we loved about it. Cramer thought Jon was attacking him, but he was attacking the whole industry, YOU. All your commentary afterwards was about who “won” the interview, and you missed that Stewart and all of us were laughing (and disappointed) with YOU. The clips from CNBC that Stewart played showed tacky graphics and overproduced promos for alleged news shows that amounted to nothing more than reading press releases from these big companies they are supposed to be reporting on. Afterwards you should have gone and looked in the mirror.

Most nights Stewart doesn’t have to try to make jokes, he simply plays clips from your 24 hour news casts and we laugh, because unedited they are hilarious and absurd. In fact, we’ve noticed that these days he focuses on criticizing the media rather than politics and the news, and we laugh and laugh. But then we get a little sad, because it’s not satire, it’s real and you really have no idea. You are awful at your job and we all hurt because of it.

I guess what I’m saying is that until you get yourself together, we’re leaving. Not for Jon in particular, but for news like his. I’m sorry it had to happen like this, But, it was just a matter of time.

Best,

Most everyone born between 1976 – 1996.

2 comments:

alex pearlman said...

so... you asked and I thought it was about time to start up again... so, new blog! Check me out.

Unknown said...

It hurts to cut them off like this, but it's the right thing to do. They weren't taking the relationship seriously anyway.