John Stewart was recently voted America’s most trusted newscaster most likely because of skits like this one and the superficial reality of American “news” broadcasts on which it is based.  As the so-called news becomes ever more ridiculous and polarized, the most trustworthy voice is the one who calls shenanigans on the whole charade.

Via: Hulu – The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Indecision 2009 – Reindecision 2008 and Beyond.

If you doubt that the TV “news” is scripted, the story of fake McCain advisor Martin Eisenstadt (aka Eitan Gorlin) might change your mind.  This guy got himself on several major news shows with a fake neocon resume and a handful of fake dirt on the McCain campaign, including Sarah Palin’s infamous ignorance of African geography.  Desperate for ratings, TV news producers didn’t even check out “Eisenstadt’s” legitimacy before booking him to fill the “obnoxious neocon” spot in their scripted childish shouting match segments.

From the Wikipedia entry:

According to Mirvish it would have taken “about 20 seconds of searching to realize Eisenstadt was a hoax.”^[10][11] The hoax revealed lack of fact-checking by news outlets such as MSNBC. An MSNBC spokesman stated that someone in the newsroom received the item in an e-mail, and that no vetting was ever done on it.^[11] “With the 24-hour news cycle they rush into anything they can find” added Mirvish.

True to form, “Eisenstadt” is cashing in with his own book.