The Purpose of Journalism

In the wake of Jon Stewart's interview of Jim Cramer I would like to remind the employees of CNBC, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, NPR, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and every other business that claims to do journalism of the words of H. L. Mencken:

It is the duty of a journalist to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

The reason newspapers and broadcast news organizations have lost readership and viewership is because modern journalism is all about gaining access to the political and financial aristocracy and journalists will freely sell their souls for that access. There is no reporter in the country willing to call an interview subject on their obvious lies or ask anything close to the hard questions. As further evidence I offer the absurd questions reporters asked during the presidential debates. It takes a comedian to have the courage and independence to do the job journalists ought to be doing every day.

That means all the journalists and reporters in the United States are the only real clowns.