Gawker's John Cook yesterday published an exclusive report on a trove of documents from the Nixon Presidential Library tracing the development of Fox News to a 1970 internal memo annotated by then-consultant Roger Ailes. Part of a 318-page cache of similar documents, the memo -- "A Plan For Putting the GOP on TV News" -- called for the creation of a strongly pro-Nixon news outlet operated from the White House which would disseminate partisan news packages free of charge to local affiliates across the country. By coordinating release of these targeted reports with allied politicians and duping opponents into hostile interviews, Ailes hoped to bypass the "prejudices of network news" -- a desire which led him to advocate for some unexpected political policies at the time, from campaign finance reform to anti-poverty efforts. The report comes as Fox is waging an aggressive two-front PR war with perceived ideological enemies -- calling on viewers to file IRS complaints against Media Matters' tax-exempt status for their dogged fact-checking of the network, while on-air hosts launched a campaign to label Jon Stewart "racist" after he called out their record of falsehoods following a critical interview with Chris Wallace (previously).
posted by Rhaomi on Jul 1, 2011 - 92 comments

This morning "The Daily Show's Jon Stewart entered the proverbial lion's den, appearing live [video highlights | 01:43] on Fox News Sunday to debate 'media bias' with host Chris Wallace." "The interview [video | 24:11] got off to a rousing start with Wallace almost immediately calling Stewart out for his criticism of the network and its brand of news coverage and went exactly where you'd expect it to from there." [more inside]
posted by ericb on Jun 19, 2011 - 102 comments

Last week during the Senate budget negotiations, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), gave a speech that included the following statement: "If you want an abortion, you go to Planned Parenthood, and that’s well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does." That statement is drastically different from the statistics reported by Planned Parenthood, which list 90 percent of its services as preventive in nature, compared with 3 percent that are abortion-related. When asked about this apparent discrepancy, Jon Kyl's office replied that "his remark was not intended to be a factual statement." And that is when things got noisy. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Apr 15, 2011 - 136 comments

A 33-minute-long interview between Jon Stewart and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. (pt. 2, 3)
posted by Rory Marinich on Feb 24, 2011 - 185 comments

In his unedited, fifty-minute interview with Rachel Maddow, Jon Stewart explains what's wrong with MSNBC, why you shouldn't say Bush is a war criminal even if it's "technically true," why the real political fight in the U.S. is not Republican vs. Democrat or left vs. right but corruption vs. non-corruption, and how the real point of the Rally to Restore Sanity (previously, previously) was to show that he has no actual influence, credibility, or power.
posted by gerryblog on Nov 12, 2010 - 223 comments

Mock the Vote: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert interviewed.
posted by Artw on Sep 25, 2008 - 41 comments

Jon Stewart just might be the most trusted man in America. (NYT article)
posted by blue_beetle on Aug 16, 2008 - 109 comments

FakeNewsFilter: The Daily Show affects young voters. Researchers at East Carolina University claim that "The Daily Show may have...detrimental effects, driving down support for political institutions and leaders among those already inclined toward nonparticipation."
posted by greatgefilte on May 15, 2006 - 69 comments

Amusing/interesting transcript of Bill Moyer's recent interview with Jon Stewart concerning the Daily Show & the state of media's involvement in political discourse in America.
posted by jonson on Jul 14, 2003 - 30 comments

Who's the only man who can take on President George W. Bush in a debate? Why, it's Texas Governor of the past, George W. Bush! BUSH v. BUSH! How surreal...(realplayer req)
posted by jearbear on Apr 30, 2003 - 28 comments