Calling Jon Leibowitz
JON Stewart is the most trusted newscaster in the United States according to a just-published survey. He is also very Jewish. So why Stewart and not Leibowitz?
ASHLEY BROWNE
JON Stewart is a funny guy. It takes about 20 seconds of watching him on The Daily Show to establish that fact.
And you only need to watch for another minute or so to establish another key fact about Stewart – he is very Jewish.
But why Jon Stewart? Surely in the 2000s, it is OK for Stewart to comfortably go by his actual name, Jon Leibowitz.
Such was the suggestion…no, make that a plea from writer Ron Rosenbaum in an article on the online journal Slate, earlier this week.
Rosenbaum argues that in this day and age, Stewart should have no qualms about dropping his adopted Anglo-surname because his Jewishness is so clearly a part of his shtick.
It is hard to argue about that. Stewart is so much a part of the mainstream media scene in the United States that now, in the days following the death of the venerable Walter Cronkite, Stewart is now regarded as the most trusted newscaster in America, according to a Time magazine poll.
That could be this week’s sign that the apocalypse is upon us, or perhaps more of a reflection of the decline and fall of TV news in the most competitive media market in the world.