How would you rather have Rather cover Election Day?
Did anyone see Dan Rather on Comedy Central with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert?I didn't, but I did watch four men comment on "Indecision 2006" on MSNBC the night after Election Day. They didn't have anything negative to say about Rather, but they did think it was ... funny. One of the commentators said we take ourselves far too seriously anyways.
The same commentators debated the purpose of television news following the elections and "filling up air time" with made-up suspense and drama about the elections. They wondered if it was really necessary for tv news to be up all night and the day after just feeding the audience with uncertain information, or no information, really.
Along those lines, they thought it was odd, but funny to see Rather on Comedy Central covering the elections. Obviously, it's odd to consider someone like Dan Rather to be on a comedy show with Colbert and Stewart, but was it wrong?
Why do you think he did it?
"It's a risk, I guess, but what the hell," Rather said. "I don't do comedy, I do politics, which sometimes is one and the same."
Posted by AL
posted by Medill Media Watch @ 8:24 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
I was very excited when I heard that Dan Rather was going to be the guest on the "Midterm Midtacular". But then he was only on it for about 5 minutes and he seemed a little nervous. Which was odd, considering he's one of the most familiar TV faces out there.
But putting my personal criticisms outside, I think it was great that Rather was the guest. His election commentary has always been half comedy, anyway, so it seems strange that he wasn't on the Daily Show sooner. I think that it's just fine to have "real" journalists as guests, as long as they're in on the joke. It's a smart show, so why not?
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