The New York Times has a great summary of much of what has been discussed the past week, vis-a-vis the economic crisis. See the Weekend Opinionator: The Magi of the Meltdown – The Opinionator Blog – NYTimes.com.

But, the highlight of the last week, for me, was Jon Stewart’s evisceration of Jim Cramer, or more rightly his stinging analysis of the financial press and its culpability in advancing the interests of bankers any whim. More broadly, though, Stewart’s evaluation of the crisis is acute and worth noting; over at Fivethirtyeight.com, Nate Silver posted all three clips, including an unaired one, of the interview. His glee over Cramer’s disembowelment is a little odd, though ’cause I’m not sure its the point.

It would be nice if we got some of this sort of this sort of analysis or insight from more media sources, especially would-be news sources.

In many ways, his approach offers the sharpest indictment of a slogan like Fox’s “Fair and Balanced.” Of course, Fox offers that to disguise its own bias, as well as to attack the so-called bias of the main-stream-media. But, in the rhetoric of “fair and balanced” Fox provides insights into the media’s obsession with “both sides” of a conflict, as if there are two equally good points of view. And, here, we’re not talking about empathy for the human experience of individuals, but the notion that there are two (and usually in this view, only two) rational and reasonable arguments about any disagreement. The truth is more complex, surely; and, taking a point of view and/or exposing hypocrisy are part of the job of real journalists.

I have often said to myself that its a shame that comedy television is more insightful than the news; maybe that is why humor is so important?