Future:Media:Change

Jon Stewart welcomed Jewish author and activist Anna Baltzer along with Fatah Party member and former Palestinian presidential candidate Mustafa Barghouti on Wednesday. Perhaps not surprisingly, he also welcomed scores of angry phone calls, E-mails, comments, and the first heckler in the Daily Show’s 11-year run.

The strong reactions shows the importance of organizations utilizing their supporters to bolster their media appearances. We’ve seen how a little media noise can be represented as mass opposition throughout the health-care debate. It’s important for NGOs to have strong and consistent links between their on-air and online media operations that backstop and reinforce messages from CEOs, celebrity ambassadors and other key figures. A battle may be won or lost in an instant on TV, but the larger war of framing the debate is happening constantly online.

So what happened…?

As the Jewish Telegraph Agency reports:

During the interview, Stewart asked Barghouti and Baltzer, who recently wrote a book based on her experience as a human rights activist in the West Bank, various questions pertaining to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Palestinians have been subjected to the longest occupation in modern history, and a system of segregation which is totally unjust,” Barghouti said.

“Liar!” a heckler shouted in the crowd in response.

“Apparently we have Joe Wilson with us tonight,” Stewart said, using his famous wit to defuse the situation.

You can watch the 2-part full interview below. I was watching on Hulu and was surprised by the blatant edit just after the heckler shouted. While, The Daily Show did make it clear the full interview was online via a text overlay, the cut made it seem like they were trying to cover up an awkward or embarrassing moment for the show. Perhaps, it was a brilliant tactic to drive more online hits, but an open letter from Baltzer, urging people to call and write the show in support of the interview, suggests a nervous staff who may have found the topic too inflammatory for their TV viewers.

Adam Horowitz mentions this nervousness and sense the interview would be cancelled in a great first-person account of the whole Daily Show heckler affair, including round two, which led to the hecklers removal.

This was too much for “Slick” in front of me to take, and he burst out again. You can hear him in the background at 7:47 of the first clip. He was escorted from the studio at 8:11 where he was belittled by Stewart (“Bye sir, you can, uh, certainly visit our sedar”). The crowd laughed and cheered as he was led away, and his faux fur clad friend was truly perplexed both by what Baltzer was saying (“Why is she saying that? What is she saying?”), as well as the crowd’s overwhelming support for the speakers.

I will be giving up the Daily Show for a while.  I have been an avid watcher for 7+ years. I am ashamed of Jon Stewart (and his crew today).  The episode was so biased in one direction.  How could any uninformed person come away with any other conclusion? I lean more Democrat and liberal in my stances ( so please, no comparisons to Fox News I hate that show).  I just refuse to accept the fact that Israel and Jews should be subservant to Palestinians/Muslims in the region and that anyone now adays that accepts Israels right to exist is somehow not “aware or compassionte” of the Palestinian situation. -LongTime

This commenter goes so far as to call Stewart a “paranoid Neo-Con.” Damn!

Jon Stewart, I’m disappointed: I didn’t know that you’re afraid of letting either a Palestinian or a Jewish person discuss the plight of the people of Palestine under Israeli Occupation.  You made excuses for illegal Israeli government behaviour, talking about self-destructive spiral on both sides and two different narratives.  You did not let either guest describe the continual war on the peaceful Palestinians through land theft, ethnic cleansing, arbitrary imprisonment without charge, poisoning of land and water, bulldozing of fruit-tree groves and factories, killing, and the massive White Phosphorus attacks that murdered 1400 freedom-loving people–including over 300 children.  A terrible performance, Jon, for someone who fancies himself a liberal.  Ha! “PEP, Progressive except for Palestine” equals paranoid Neo-Con, Jon. -Pollychrome

I’m guessing the comment section on the videos are moderated much more closely, which would explain their uniform praise for Stuart and even suggestions that the “courage” of hosting these guest will “save lives.”

Forgive me for a little bit of hypbole: Mr. Stewart, this show could very well wind up saving lives and helping those people who are working every day to save the lives of their fellow human beings. Thank you very much for being ballsy enough to include this segment on your show! Unfortunately you will now be lumped into the “self-hating Jew” category. (Or fortunately considering who has already been labelled such. Most of them aren’t very funny.) But that’s one of the prices we have to pay in this world for supporting the truth. Thank you again!!! -Tipton

Let’s hope Tipton is right on one count.

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