What’s more, while Stewart, et al., may generally be ahead of the conventional-wisdom curve compared with Letterman and his network late-night colleagues, this distinction doesn’t always hold up. Remember the “Dean Scream” of January 2004, which helped halt Howard Dean’s march to the Democratic nomination? The network late-night hosts didn’t cede that campaign twist to Stewart and Co. Instead, they jumped all over it, doing their part — along with a lot of other people — to cast Dean as hilariously and frighteningly unhinged. (Quoth Leno: “Howard Dean announced today he will campaign in seven states. The states are Rage, Frenzy, Fury, Wrath, Fever, Agitation, and Delirium. Yeeeaaah!”)
Here’s the million-dollar question: if a Dean Scream happened right now, would anyone notice? Or — without the fake-news complex to drive it into the collective consciousness — would it just quietly fade away?
We may already have an answer. If you’re a Giuliani supporter, you’re probably relieved that Stewart and Letterman can’t run wild with the Kerik indictment. If you’re not, you’re probably marveling at Giuliani’s good luck. Either way, you’ve got ample proof of just how important fake news can be.
Topics:
Media -- Dont Quote Me
, Project for Excellence in Journalism, Talk Shows, TV News Shows, More 
, Project for Excellence in Journalism, Talk Shows, TV News Shows, Rudolph Giuliani, Democrats, Mike Huckabee, Chuck Norris, Bernard Kerik, Howard Dean, Bill Maher, Less 
