Jon Stewart 'Crossfire' feud ignites Net frenzy

When comedian Jon Stewart blasted the hosts of CNN's "Crossfire" on the cable TV program, he ignited a frenzy of online activity.

On Friday night, the star of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" angered his "Crossfire" hosts Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala, saying they promote partisan political debate. The online transcript and video clips of the program immediately became an overnight sensation among Web surfers, bloggers and pundits alike.

As of midday Tuesday, online video hosting site iFilm said, more than 670,000 people had downloaded the CNN clip from its site. The clip runs for about 13 minutes.

Photo: Comedy Central

"The Daily Show" host
Jon Stewart fanned
Internet flames with his
roast of CNN experts.

The volume of downloads outpaced CNN's recent ratings numbers for the actual show, which has proved a hit for the network. "Crossfire" drew an average of 615,000 viewers per show during the month of September. But CNN said Friday's program attracted more than 867,000 viewers.

Links to the iFilm video and CNN.com's online transcript of the show have been posted to countless online bulletin boards and Web logs. Blogdex, a research project by the MIT Media Laboratory that tracks blog community activity, ranked the CNN.com transcript as the top online content being pointed to among bloggers on Monday. On Tuesday, the transcript was tied for the top spot on Blogdex's list.

The video clip also was a favorite among the peer-to-peer community. According to SuprNova.org, which tracks usage of the Bit Torrent file-sharing protocol, the segment is currently being offered for download by more than 1,100 different sources.

The rapid distribution of the clips and transcript illustrates the Web's growing political clout, according to at least one media expert. Jeff Jarvis, the creator of Entertainment Weekly magazine and current president of online creative firm Advance.net, said in his own blog that CNN may have missed the boat by not making the clips available for download to the general public. CNN also said a handfull of subscribers can access the clip online.

"What's fascinating about the Jon Stewart takedown of 'Crossfire' is not just what he said, but how his message got distributed," Jarvis wrote. "The really stupid thing is that CNN didn't do this themselves: 'Hey, we had a red-hot segment...you should watch; here, please, look at this free download because it will promote our (hosts) and our brand and our show and give us a little of that Stewart hip heat.' That's what CNN should have done. Instead, they'll charge you to deliver a videotape (what's that?) the next day."

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Video posted on AOL for Broadband

by October 20, 2004 11:15 AM PDT

Video posted on AOL for Broadband

CNN's sister company was promoting it on their Welcome Screen on Tuesday -- marquee billing!

Like this Reply to this comment

Ha!

by lewissalem October 20, 2004 1:42 PM PDT

Ha!

...nice one. I agree that Kilborn's network show was for $hit. I have not read Stewart's book so I will reserve opinion on that one.. But I must say that his show has gone downhill since ALL he talks about is politics. The Daily Show was a refreshing change. Now it's just another Bill Maher or Dennis Miller.

Like this Reply to this comment

This thing workeed out great! No problem here.

by October 21, 2004 9:33 AM PDT

This thing workeed out great! No problem here.

I'm happy that CNN was left out in the cold on this one and
didn't profit any more than it did from the hoopla. Maybe then it
will get through to them that more people agree with Stewart's
POV. I have been getting ill watching the news channels for a
long time now and would boycott them if it weren't an election
year and didn't feel like I had to monitor them. I cringe when I
witness news anchors and "news show hosts" being flies on a
wall as the news I want to them to deliver I have to get from
other sources. I'm not looking for a left wing agenda. I simply
want to know about everything and not feel that "Big Brother" is
now finally upon us. I sincerely can't believe they've hung past
presidents out to dry and they're so forgiving to one that needs
to be. I just don't get it.

Like this Reply to this comment

Theatre - American Gladiator Style

by October 23, 2004 2:12 AM PDT

Theatre - American Gladiator Style

It's funny how I remember my histoy teacher once said in class that "history tends to repeat itself". Today, in America (whenever I am there), I am fascinated by the gladiatorial mauling of people, issues and neuroses by the media.

I am up one day at 7 a.m. getting ready for a meeting in my hotel. And on "Today" - one of the topics for the show was "You only have 1 minute to impress someone...and we show you how". Geez - no wonder most Americans are a bundle of nerves and fear their own shadows. Let's not even go near Jerry Springer or Maury Povitch.

But Jon Stewart hit it right on the nail. Most of the Big Media programs have become theatre. Not surprisinly people are turning to his show, or The Tonight Show or David Letterman's to get informed about politics and life in general. The absurdity of Big Media reporting is a joke and if that's the case, might as well get it from the daily funnies. It is hurting America, and to a lesser extent hurting us too all around the world.

Like this Reply to this comment

john stewart and crossfire

by October 23, 2004 7:52 AM PDT

john stewart and crossfire

Regardless whether you find his own show funny or not, John?s comments on Crossfire were for the most part right on the mark. And if our news media can't take criticism and do some introspection then we are truly in trouble.

My read on John's point is that shows like Crossfire engage in such excessive partisan dialogue there is little room left for any meaningful substance (at least for those of us who are not partisan idealogues and who would actually like to hear substantive points of view that might differ from our own). I felt John started off trying to deliver that message in a mostly comedic manner. Looked to me like Tucker immediately when to defcon 5 and basically refused to fully discuss John?s issue. Tucker?s point about John being soft on Kerry when he was on the Daily Show is accurate, but Tucker was attempting to change the subject. I did think John was over the top calling Tucker a d1ck (even though Tucker was pretty much acting like one). Paul and Tucker should have simply took John?s point like men and debated it with him; that would have actually been a good discussion (and funny if Tucker could have kept the broomstick out of his a$$); and I think Paul and Tucker could probably have scored a few counterpoints as well ? lost opportunity for them.

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Video posted on AOL for Broadband

CNN's sister company was promoting it on their Welcome Screen on Tuesday -- marquee billing!

[lewissalem]

Ha!

...nice one. I agree that Kilborn's network show was for $hit. I have not read Stewart's book so I will reserve opinion on that one.. But I must say that his show has gone downhill since ALL he talks about is politics. The Daily Show was a refreshing change. Now it's just another Bill Maher or Dennis Miller.

This thing workeed out great! No problem here.

I'm happy that CNN was left out in the cold on this one and
didn't profit any more than it did from the hoopla. Maybe then it
will get through to them that more people agree with Stewart's
POV. I have been getting ill watching the news channels for a
long time now and would boycott them if it weren't an election
year and didn't feel like I had to monitor them. I cringe when I
witness news anchors and "news show hosts" being flies on a
wall as the news I want to them to deliver I have to get from
other sources. I'm not looking for a left wing agenda. I simply
want to know about everything and not feel that "Big Brother" is
now finally upon us. I sincerely can't believe they've hung past
presidents out to dry and they're so forgiving to one that needs
to be. I just don't get it.

Theatre - American Gladiator Style

It's funny how I remember my histoy teacher once said in class that "history tends to repeat itself". Today, in America (whenever I am there), I am fascinated by the gladiatorial mauling of people, issues and neuroses by the media.

I am up one day at 7 a.m. getting ready for a meeting in my hotel. And on "Today" - one of the topics for the show was "You only have 1 minute to impress someone...and we show you how". Geez - no wonder most Americans are a bundle of nerves and fear their own shadows. Let's not even go near Jerry Springer or Maury Povitch.

But Jon Stewart hit it right on the nail. Most of the Big Media programs have become theatre. Not surprisinly people are turning to his show, or The Tonight Show or David Letterman's to get informed about politics and life in general. The absurdity of Big Media reporting is a joke and if that's the case, might as well get it from the daily funnies. It is hurting America, and to a lesser extent hurting us too all around the world.

john stewart and crossfire

Regardless whether you find his own show funny or not, John?s comments on Crossfire were for the most part right on the mark. And if our news media can't take criticism and do some introspection then we are truly in trouble.

My read on John's point is that shows like Crossfire engage in such excessive partisan dialogue there is little room left for any meaningful substance (at least for those of us who are not partisan idealogues and who would actually like to hear substantive points of view that might differ from our own). I felt John started off trying to deliver that message in a mostly comedic manner. Looked to me like Tucker immediately when to defcon 5 and basically refused to fully discuss John?s issue. Tucker?s point about John being soft on Kerry when he was on the Daily Show is accurate, but Tucker was attempting to change the subject. I did think John was over the top calling Tucker a d1ck (even though Tucker was pretty much acting like one). Paul and Tucker should have simply took John?s point like men and debated it with him; that would have actually been a good discussion (and funny if Tucker could have kept the broomstick out of his a$$); and I think Paul and Tucker could probably have scored a few counterpoints as well ? lost opportunity for them.