Categories
9/11 first responders (denied healthcare) speak out on ‘Daily Show’
Some have questioned why the Republican effort to block a bill to fund health care for 9/11 first responders hasn't received more coverage on the cable news networks. And one of the cable news industry's best-known tormentors on the subject -- "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart -- spotlighted the issue on last night's show, interviewing a panel of first responders afflicted with grave health difficulties to flesh out what he sees as the media's blatant disregard for the heroic municipal workers at the center of the controversy.
Stewart has been hitting the general media silence around the first responders and the pending legislation that would help to alleviate their health and financial difficulties for much of the past week. Last night's panel discussion took more direct aim at congressional inaction on the measure -- and the Senate Republicans' filibuster in particular. This marked one of the only occasions the satiric cable show featured a panel discussion, and through most of the nine-minute segment, Stewart's demeanor was uncharacteristically somber, as he sought to give the bulk of the airtime to his guests.
The panel included representatives from New York City's police, fire and emergency-response services who offered pointed responses to complaints from Senate Republican leaders over having to cope with Congress's legislative agenda over the Christmas holiday -- as well, of course, as stories of indifference and neglect from insurers and employers over the health risks they incurred while digging through the ruins of the World Trade Center in search of survivors.
You can watch the segment below:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-december-16-2010/9-11-first-responders-react-to-the-senate-filibuster
The morning after it aired, the clip above has sparked a lively debate on the Web. On the popular social news site Reddit, one commenter asked, "Why the (expletive deleted) is a COMEDY SHOW the only place on TV to properly interview some of the actual first responders? I'm not American so I can really only go off what I saw on the Daily Show - but that's absolutely disgusting." Another Reddit user seemed less enamored of Stewart's jump into the fray, asking, "How much is he contributing? Or is he suggesting to get a loan from China? He should stick with comedy."
And former "Good Morning America" producer Eric Ortner -- who worked as a medic at the site of the devastation on 9/11 -- had some choice words for media colleagues who "will be jockeying to outdo one another on 10th anniversary coverage" of the attacks next year.
"The sad thing will be that the wall to wall coverage will be little more than window dressing with little true consequence," Ortner told the New York Times. "They'll make us feel patriotic and tearfully grateful as they sidebar a piece or two on the plight of the rescue workers who still seem to be dying broke, ill, and in need of basic benefits. When that happens, this is the moment that I'll remember."
Stewart has been hitting the general media silence around the first responders and the pending legislation that would help to alleviate their health and financial difficulties for much of the past week. Last night's panel discussion took more direct aim at congressional inaction on the measure -- and the Senate Republicans' filibuster in particular. This marked one of the only occasions the satiric cable show featured a panel discussion, and through most of the nine-minute segment, Stewart's demeanor was uncharacteristically somber, as he sought to give the bulk of the airtime to his guests.
The panel included representatives from New York City's police, fire and emergency-response services who offered pointed responses to complaints from Senate Republican leaders over having to cope with Congress's legislative agenda over the Christmas holiday -- as well, of course, as stories of indifference and neglect from insurers and employers over the health risks they incurred while digging through the ruins of the World Trade Center in search of survivors.
You can watch the segment below:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-december-16-2010/9-11-first-responders-react-to-the-senate-filibuster
The morning after it aired, the clip above has sparked a lively debate on the Web. On the popular social news site Reddit, one commenter asked, "Why the (expletive deleted) is a COMEDY SHOW the only place on TV to properly interview some of the actual first responders? I'm not American so I can really only go off what I saw on the Daily Show - but that's absolutely disgusting." Another Reddit user seemed less enamored of Stewart's jump into the fray, asking, "How much is he contributing? Or is he suggesting to get a loan from China? He should stick with comedy."
And former "Good Morning America" producer Eric Ortner -- who worked as a medic at the site of the devastation on 9/11 -- had some choice words for media colleagues who "will be jockeying to outdo one another on 10th anniversary coverage" of the attacks next year.
"The sad thing will be that the wall to wall coverage will be little more than window dressing with little true consequence," Ortner told the New York Times. "They'll make us feel patriotic and tearfully grateful as they sidebar a piece or two on the plight of the rescue workers who still seem to be dying broke, ill, and in need of basic benefits. When that happens, this is the moment that I'll remember."
Post edited by HOODS on
Comments
John Stewert said something along the lines that they should stop funding the war since technically they are also 9/11 responders.