Jezebel recently gave The Daily Show a thorough feminist drubbing calling the program “a boys club where women’s contributions are often ignored and dismissed”. The lack of visible female staff and the recent addition of Olivia Munn to the show’s cast were major points of contention. The latter of which the writers at Jezebel particularly bitched at feeling that her credentials of “suggestively putting things in her mouth on a videogame show and being on the covers of Playboy and Maxim” were the basis for her employment on The Daily Show (funny that they fail to mention her other credentials such as authoring a book and co-hosting Attack of the Show for 4 years). Jon Stewart is also targeted as a tyrant with sexist tendencies. Jezebel cites a rumour where he allegedly threw a newspaper at then executive producer Madeleine Smithburg over a dispute.
However, the article’s scathing review of The Daily Show begins to fall apart when you realize that nearly most of the quotes were from female comedians who were either fired from or never hired by the show. Despite the journalistic irresponsibility, the article developed enough buzz to warrant a response. Jon Stewart offered a retort on the air and his female staff issued a very tongue and cheek letter that notes that The Daily Show staff is in fact 40% female, a gender ratio that actually mirrors their viewership. In response, Jezebel offered a curt post placing the blame of their own ignorant oversights squarely on The Daily Show stating:
I just wish the show had agreed to answer questions or make anyone available to talk when I approached them for comment before the piece was published
Or maybe you should just become better journalists. But according to Slate’s Emily Gould, the article was a calculated attempt to simply garner more readership and capital by doing exactly what ‘feminist blogs’ rail against; play on the insecurities of women.
But Jezebel must also sell ad space, and its founders knew that they are marketing to a generation that knew the score about how they'd been marketed to in the past, which meant those old-fashioned print tactics weren't going to work. Page views are generated by commenters who are moved to speak out, then revisit the comment thread endlessly to see how people have responded to their ideas. Ergo, more provocative posts tend to generate far more page views, and the easiest way for Jezebel writers to be provocative is to stoke readers' insecurities—just in a different way.
Kudos to you Jezebel, for being complete and utter hypocrites.
Oh that goes without saying. But Jezebel singled out The Daily Show as a sexist platform when in spite of widespread sexism is still a very progressive show. The show should have been cited as a model and not an example...
While it's hard to argue with the 40% of Daily Show staff that say Jon Stewart isn't a sexist, I think Slate and others missed the point, which is that male privilege is still a dominant force in any industry, and the Daily Show isn't immune to that. The comedians that weren't hired or fired from the show could just be mad at not having a job there, or they could genuinely have felt like there's a "boy's club" mentality, but I think sexism is so ingrained in our culture that we're willing to just pass their complaints off as bitter rather than look closer at the advantage men have in society.