"CNN Leaves it There"

Jon Stewart began his show last night by introducing arguably unimportant topics such as the "big game" last night while a video of a gay protest is on the screen. He harps on the fact that CNN is always "leaving it there" and postponing important discussions while they have a full twenty-four hours to talk about said important topics. Stewart goes on to poke fun at CNN for fact-checking an SNL skit in which Fred Armisen plays Barack Obama, claiming to have done nothing since taking office. CNN delivers a massive report on this skit and found that while many of the president's initiatives have not moved forward, he has in fact done something since taking office. The detailed approach CNN takes to fact check a comedy show while featured speakers on this show throw out numbers without any sense of validity is deemed comical. John Stewart continues by showing several instances of CNN guests saying spurious things and introducing made-up statistics without being asked where their numbers came from or countered with facts. Despite these horrendously inaccurate claims, the hosts of CNN simply "leave it there." Stewart is mainly criticizing the lack of fact checking seen in the media's discourse on politics, though he hints at their use of time and judgement.

In academic discourse, the vital - as opposed to superfluous - events would be the ones heavily analyzed. Because academic discourse makes use of the educated people in whatever the proposed issue is, it is more than just two people who have an opinion. As the objective of public discourse is to entertain, viewers leave less and more incorrectly informed after watching shows like CNN. Public discourse is easy, as academic discourse seeks to further the discourse rather than split it.