Finally some Stonewall coverage... from Colbert
June 26, 2009 11:45 am ET by Karl Frisch
Yesterday I wrote about the media pretty much ignoring the 40th anniversary of Stonewall which is fast approaching this weekend. As of Thursday there had been just one cable news segment (Maddow) and two substantive print stories from America's top ten daily newspapers (both in the New York Daily News).
Well, according to a new search of TVeyes.com there's still nothing more from cable or network news. The top ten daily newspapers haven't faired any better either -- just two guest op-eds (New York Times & Houston Chronicle) and an AP story that makes passing reference to Stonewall (printed in Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle). Still nothing from USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times or the Arizona Republic.
Fear not though, Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report had an interview last night with Jim Fouratt, a journalist who survived the Stonewall riots and his "The Word" segment also focused on Stonewall.
In the words of tharri874, a commenter here on our website, "Wow, so it takes a news parody show to actually cover the anniversary of Stonewall. No wonder so many prefer to watch The Daily Show and Colbert. They're not just more entertaining; they're more informative."
We'll see what happens this weekend. Enjoy Colbert below:
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Word - Stonewalling | ||||
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They didnt realize that they were the butt of the joke. I was driving yeasterday afternoon, and flipping around the radio looking for some news, and it was wall-to-wall Michael Jackson. Later in the evening I tuned to several "news" channels, and it was still nothing but MIchael Jackson.
I couldn't find anything of substance until later on when Jon Stewart came on. He and Colbert actually have on more interesting, intelligent and well-informed guests than most of the round-the-clock news stations. They also go deeper into many issues with their jokes than the news blabbers do with their so-called reports.
And Sky Saxon died yesterday, and I didn't hear a word about it. That would have been ok with me, along with some actual news.
Thats one drawback of a long life, so many of the people who touch your life tend to leave before you.
The raid was not done to collect a payoff as he said. In fact, it was the work of a Police Department deputy inspector, Seymour Pine, and it was carried it out without the knowledge of the officers of the local police precinct, whom they suspected of taking payoffs. Pine had two reasons for the raid: the Stonewall was selling liquor without a license, and it was being used by a Mafia blackmail ring that was setting up gay patrons who worked on Wall Street.
And the arrests did not start because a lesbian mouthed off to a cop - anyone who was not dressed in "gender appropriate" clothing was arrested, as was the standard practice.
He should have done his research before appearing.
Good for Colbert.