Daily Show Visits New York Times: "Aged News," "Colonial Williamsburg" "My Grandma Would Love This" (VIDEO)

"The Daily Show" correspondent Jason Jones visited the New York Times offices on Wednesday night's show for a hysterical segment titled "End Times."

Jones got access to Executive Editor Bill Keller as well as Times Assistant Managing Editor Rick Berke and Communications Coordinator Kristin Mason.

At one point, walking through the office with Mason, he picks up a landline phone and asks, "What's this?"

When told that it's a phone, he jokes, "A landline phone? I'm a reporter from the '80s, making sure everything's factual. You guys are like a walking colonial Williamsburg!"

Later, walking past a stack of newspapers, Jones picks one up and says, "You know who would love this? My grandma."

Watch:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
End Times
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Newt Gingrich Unedited Interview

The heart of Jones' mockery of the paper is that it publishes yesterday's news — or, as he called it, "aged news."

Story continues below

advertisement

"Even today there are some who still think there's merit in publishing the news 24 hours after it's happened," he said.

He challenged Berke to give him "one thing in [the paper] that happened today," to which Berke responded, "Nothing here happened today, but I can give you several things that didn't happen yesterday."

Keller defended his paper, calling it "the best package of firsthand witness, thoughtful analysis, intelligent commentary on what's happening in the world that you want to know." He also took a stab at online news aggregators, including the Huffington Post, saying, "The last time I was in Baghdad I didn't see a Huffington Post bureau or a Google bureau or a Drudge Report bureau there."

"It's a lot easier to sit home and riff on the work that somebody else does," Keller told Jones.

"And more fun to read!" he immediately replied.

Jones ended with a joke: "What's black and white and red all over?" Newspapers, Keller guessed. "Your balance sheets!" Jones told him.

Comments

[Hemingway1312]

TDS's piece on NYT does what any good satire should do. It exaggerates and fabricates information about the target person or group for a humorous exposure of alleged folly or vice. Since TDS is on a Comedy Channel, it's expected that they'll often take things to extremes which will seem unfair to some viewers, but so what?

Otoh, compare TDS to Murdoch News Corp. products claiming to be genuine journalism. All their political reporting exaggerates and fabricates about the target person or group either to support those who are approved by Rupert's conservative multi-national corporatocracy or to denigrate those who are not. The NYT has a lasting stain on its reputation for Miller's contribution to the faux-journalism that steamrolled the US and C.O.W. into the Iraq war based on unreliable, at best, intelligence.

When Murdoch and other publishers such as NYT self-righteously claim to uphold the highest standards of journalism and offer the most insightful analysis, that's when they are richly deserving of satirical attacks.

If printed newspaper survive until the end of this century, it will only be because their advertisers don't care how many copies they sell, but rather that target demographic groups read enough papers provided at the coffee shop or library. MSM news on television will survive by subdividing into variations of the FoxNews model which again market advertiser's wares to target groups.

[kreardon]

Ok remember it was just a comedy bit, and it was a good one at that.

[mzzanthrope]

I am the first to bust NYT on their foibles. However, I think that the NYT handled itself properly. They remained serious. They discussed the importance of actually breaking news and sending journalists to news locales.
It was funnier for the Daily Show, because NYT played the "perfect straight man".
I prefer to see that rather than a Daily Show Correspondent convincing Keller to say that he does coke or some other absurd thing , like they did with the congressman, who actually came off looking like a doofus when he tried to 'play along'. Better that they stayed in true character. Allowing the Daily show in to begin with demonstrates that they weren't afraid and could be good sports.

[7ShallFall]

Where would the "Daily Show" be without real journalists? They don't produce the content they just
make fun it. We need the NYTimes, it is not a perfect institution, but it's one of the best the world has
to offer. A sad state of affairs it would become if all we did was comment on other comments.

[Snerdgronk]

I'll be responding to this comment tomorrow ...

Snerd

[Raster]

We'll be holding our breath---not!

[felisa11]

The NYT is on the take. Please don't forget that false article that cheney paid them to publish and then he used it as his source. I will never believe a word on their pages.

[voltage356]

It's called aged news.

[Wombaticus]

Isn't there some organization called Associated Press that has been gather news freelance for, oh, a thousand years?
Couldn't the NYT simply act as a publisher of such reporting (um, don't they do that now?).
And could they not at least defend their newspaper as possessing seasoned editors who can FOLLOW UP on a breaking story so that 24 hours later they have CONTEXT that allows the story to be UNDERSTOOD better? Wouldn't that be the value they offer?
But alas, they leave that to the Daily Show.

[talkitreal]

Without a paper like the New York Times, Huffington Post, and other websites that borrow articles from these types of newspapers - would NOT exist.
The New York Times actually sends reporters out into the field to do research, to dointerviews, to visit war zones, and conflict areas around the world, to report on what they find. When the stories about torture being performed by the Bush Administration was uncovered, it was papers like New York Times that investigated, and broke the story, it was the New York Times who investigated the story about Blackwater, and their actions in Iraq. -- Most of the major news stories we read about are stories investigated by real reporters like the ones who work at the New York Times, people who spend their time digging, and interviewing, and reserching for the facts. ---- Huffington Post DOES NOT do that ! Drudge DOES NOT do that, Politico DOES NOT do that! And the Daily Show, sure as hel* DOES NOT do that either --- all these websites do is copy, and post the stories that the New York Times has spent their time actually doing the real investigating.

[113]

nytimes is invaluable­....that's the one newspaper the world can't live without...­it needs to stay open at all costs.

[TheBoohoo]

Video killed the radio star. Internet kills the newspaper star. And if it all goes well, newspapers can expect a hostile takeover by angry right wing blowhards, just like radio!

[Wombaticus]

Uh...didn'­t that already happen? (Murdoch, Moon, etc...)

[thefooligan5]

uh, radio is alive and kicking yet videos seem to be on a decline.

[jeliz]

When the Times' Mr. Keller mentions The Huffington Post, you must be giving them a run for their money. Congratulations. You've got Rupert running scared. Keep up the good work.

[KLordsha]

LMAO!

[Hina]

I also mourn the demise of qulaity newspapers.
No commentary, wit, wisecraks can replace good authntic reporting.

[levibatgirl]

Corporations neuter reporters, turning them into nothing more than their shills.

[LiberalBuzz]

Sooo if we get rid of the reporters then who are the bloggers going to quote?

[ominous]

Therein lies the answer to all the Times problems.

I can't believe none of them had a simple answer to why "aged news" if worth keeping around. I'm sure their sponsors would love to hear it. The simple answer is THEY REPORT, that means fact checking, legwork, accuracy and all the other stuff that reporting implies.

[MurrayAbraham]

Am I the only one to have understood this "reportage" as a friendly rubbing?
For example, if you take the joke about land phone lines to cross check information only as a mockery of old technology, you are missing the point that the NYT does much more fact checking than most news outlets.
Similarly, if you only joke about the NYT apologizing on front page for mistakes, you miss the fact they actually apologize when they make mistakes.
Last but not least, I loved the fake Drudge Report headline about "NYT inexplicably lets TDS in their offices".
When do you think the Drudge Report or FNC will dare have Jason Jones reporting in their midst?

[Anastasia]

It would have been funnier if the Times wasn't on the verge of going away. It's like mocking someone on life support. Oh, ho, ho, his kidneys are failing. Ha, ha, ha!

Like that's what the people standing vigil want to hear.

[MurrayAbraham]

My point was, the NYT knew fully well what to expect (Samantha Bee had already done a similar piece once) and don't want to be treated as a poor old lady on life support.
As Keller mentioned in the interview, the NYT has a huge advantage to survive the current crisis: good reporters wood kill to work for them.
They haven't yet figured out how to use the internet to generate real revenue, but I am confident they will and they have the content which most of their competitors don't.

[richchaplin]

The bit was funny AND sad. But this characterization of the newspapers as "aged news" is silly. It it accurate? Sure -- as accurate as calling internet news "infant news."

Let's face it. Doing things right often takes longer than doing them fast. Can you make spaghetti sauce in a microwave? Sure, but it doesn't taste very good. Would you rather have a hamburger that was on the grill 1 minute or one that was on the grill 5 minutes?

Spending more time on something does not guarantee it will be better (e.g. GNR's "Chinese Democracy"). But when speed is prioritized over accuracy you are -- quite predictably -- going to be less accurate than fast.

I hope (but don't really expect) that soon Americans will get fed up with all the tissue-thin, inaccurate and biased reporting they are getting and are willing to spend a buck or two to get well researched and thoughtful reporting.

[Anastasia]

It's incomprehensible to me why the Daily Show would celebrate shallow over the in depth news coverage.

As you said, it's like preferring a microwave meal to slow cooking. Warmed over food versus something homemade.

[jeliz]

It's a comedy show, the Daily Show -- not real news.

[thefooligan5]

If you know anything about the daily show you'll know they participate in the art of irony in virtually every episode. Jason Jones was essentially acting the fool (much like Stephen Colbert) and practically begging for the NY Times to debunk his idiotic questions. The worst part in my mind is that these people are rarely able to offer up convincing answers to the characters being played by the Daily Show correspondents.