Here's the full account from the Newsweek reporter. http://www.newsweek.com/id/223862
After reading it, I'm pretty confident in believing that all three of the individuals in question would have been detained had Jones and The Daily Show not shown up. The appearance on the tape is just one of many particular associations Mr. Bahari had with individuals in Iran that would attract the attention of autocratic authorities (artists, intellectuals, other journalists), and the accusations of spying for foreign intelligence. I don't know how much this matters, but the interviews were conducted prior to the election, which I think is what prompted the hand-wringing. Of course, Mediaite is after the page views, and they'll have them with this. MacNicol really made a leap on this one, but she's writing for Dan Abrams, so I shouldn't be surprised. Maybe she thinks Jon Stewart actually got Crossfire cancelled. I thought Jones' interview pieces were cringe-worthy, like I do with most field pieces. But these particular ones fell into that category of the correspondent being an idiot, rather than letting the interview subject hang themselves with their own rope. I cringe at both kinds. David ________________________________ From: Joe Hass <[email protected]> Last summer's The Daily Show series in which Jason Jones went to Iran shortly before the Iranian election rioting exploded may have lead to the kidnapping of at least three people, including a Newsweek reporter. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/23/daily-show-to-blame-for-n_n_367978.html I am a big fan of differentiating between correlation and causation, but I do recall a little bit of handwringing at the time the series aired (after the rioting began), and this story is strongly enough relating to the latter that Stewart et al need to have some time for contemplation before their next on-location shoot. Let me add my personal opinion that I find the on-location stuff for TDS to be frequently (but not always) unwatchable, for the same reason that I have never enjoyed Candid Camera: there's a sense that the people with the camera are punching down instead of up. Listening to The Bugle last night, John Oliver told the story of reading "Going Rogue" to a group of six-year-olds, and an uproar occurred when the kids realized they were being suckered into something that clearly wasn't. Oliver and Andy Zaltzman were almost in tears as the story was told, And I thought, "I look forward to skipping past this segment completely." -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
