The reason for the shift? Stewart and Apple executives "had disagreements over some of the topics and guests," the sources said. Specifically, they claimed Stewart told staffers that Apple execs took issue with planned programming related to both China and artificial intelligence, and noted that with the 2024 US election coming up, there might have been additional opportunities for disagreement then.

Shows like this should have zero input from executives. If you are not willing to let the show have free rein, you don’t deserve to host the show.

Hopefully Jon Stewart does something else with less corporate oversight.
- I was so excited to have him back and so let down when he was cancelled. I really do hope he goes somewhere else
  
  You should be clear; was he canceled or was just his show canceled?
- Honestly, I hope he leans into his podcast. IMHO, The Problem’s podcast was better than the show.
  
  The podcast was just as effective at highlighting issues of importance, but it was a bit more fun, and it commented more on the weekly news.
  
  IMHO, the podcast did a better job of scratching my 2000’s Daily Show itch. The TV show was fine, but it felt like an even heavier version of Last Week Tonight. It wasn’t a show I could watch if I had a hard week. It was good, but I often finished it somewhat depressed.
  
  I'll have to check out the podcast. The show was definitely too heavy for me to want to watch most of the time.
- HBO should make him an offer. Pull him over to chill with John Oliver again like the good old days.
  
  HBO? Ohh you mean MAX, the hip and cool skateboarding cousin that showed up to HBO's house in season 7 of the "HBO show" with the bodacious sunglasses and the backward hat.
  
  Yeah, I'm sure that guy is jazzy and gnarly enough to support John Stewart.
  
  Radical!
- The Other Problem with John Stewart: Apple is Beholden to China
- For real. Maybe PBS can afford him.
  
  You think big business that advertised on pbs would allow that?
Fuck Apple, let the man speak.
- This feels like corporate shortsightedness; Apple sees a huge overlap in John Stewart and their own core user base so it seems like an easy win to give him a show that does the investigative journalism that endeared him in the first place. But then he start asking questions about the stock market and poking at potential investors and outside pressure is pushing internal executive conversations that eventually realize the millions they can make by keeping him on the air is nothing compared to the billions lost of investors start pulling out and draining the Apple stock price.
  
  Apple's only identity at this point is the billions it makes from an over valued stock price. Mr. Stewart threatened it. So capitalism happened.
- Oh come on. They’re not preventing him from speaking, they’re choosing to stop putting million$ into a show with someone they no longer want to do business with (for whatever reason; details not clear).
  
  If the show has legs, Stewart will certainly find a new host. Could be a nice catch for one of the other biggies.
  
  Yeah they’re allowing him to speak about only what they deem as “appropriate”. Preventing him from speaking about china is not “letting him speak” as you put it. It also sounds like the reasons for not wanting to do business is pretty clear. Stewart wants to talk about things that apple feels might show them in some not great light, so they can’t have any of that.
  
  Yeah I wonder why they suddenly aren't cool with the show. Seems pretty strange
As usual Jon shows that he is a man of principles. Fuck apple.
Between this on Apple TV+ and Netflix cancelling Patriot Act with Hassan Minaj, it seems there is definitely a big issue with profit driven platforms worried about pissing off actual nations by literally just stating facts.

I hope Jon Stewart can do a deal with another platform and make this kind of content again. But I doubt any big names will want to after this.
- Between this on Apple TV+ and Netflix cancelling Patriot Act with Hassan Minaj, it seems there is definitely a big issue with profit driven platforms worried about pissing off actual nations by literally just stating facts.
  
  For profit corporate owned platforms really are starting to show their limitations at this point. Eventually I think we're going to need a lot more self hosted, possibly federated, platform hosting if we want to address the limitations imposed by a single for profit platform owner driven by engagement and beholden to investors.
  
  Apple deplatforming Stewart is the same issue as Musk tanking Twatter or YouTube demonetizing small content creators because it's profitable - a privately owned platform with the sole goal of maximizing profit and investment income doesn't advance the cause of free discussion for the public good.
  
  The problem isn't hosting its paying for production of content. His existing stuff will probably stay up and I find it unlikely that YouTube will take down the mean things John Oliver has said about China. The issue is shows with that amount of research and production is that they need a lot of money to produce content.
- More reason for universal standardized content access with universal type apps, anyoen can create content and distribute it to millions of people. These networks have always been about convenience, which they have a properietary tech on apparantly.
  
  Did you just invent YouTube?
- It's not anything new that you feel pushback in media whenever someone attempts to challenge the status quo.
- Hassan Minaj
  
  Didn't he have problems with his staff? They complained on twitter iirc.
This would happen at Amazon or Netflix or Disney, too. Apple’s not special in not wanting to piss off the CCP
- John Oliver doesn't seem to have a problem with HBO/Max
  
  Colbert seems to struggle more with the FCC regulations on what he can't say and show more than what CBS wants. It's less often now but at the start of his Late Show he really appeared to be mean to CBS on-air specifically to prove that they didn't have a presence in his writers room.
  
  HBO doesn’t have a hardware business dependent upon China
  
  Oliver also has a lot of Emmy wins. He might also have a larger viewing audience.
  
  My guess is that Oliver, like Viacom era Jon Stewart, is popular enough that he can shit on his employer.
- eh, wth would netlfix or amazon care what china thinks??
  
  apple has major physical investment in china.... thats the conflict of interest here. a media conglomerate changing the story because businessmonies.
  
  Netflix is a bad example, but Amazon and Disney do a lot of business with China. Amazon has e-commerce and web services offerings in china. Also they, like Apple, manufacture a LOT of shit there. Disney is simpler. They want to sell their media in China.
  
  They all want access to the Chinese market.
- Yep, and the article says that:
  
  "The show's cancellation is indicative of the kinds of challenges owners of platforms (like Apple, Amazon, Google, and others) face when they are producing content, too."
- Netflix is for less beholden to the ccp than Apple or Amazon
- I always remember, when I see Martin Scorsese throw shade at Disney in an interview, that when he made Kundun, the CCP didn't like it and made Disney restrict distribution of the film. Michael Eisner literally hired Henry Kissinger to do damage control afterwards.
Good on Stewart for not being a corporate shill. Fuck Apple!
Won't someone think of the poor billion dollar corporations!!
- Trillion
  
  I cannot even fathom that amount of money.
What a badly written article. It's like an article that had a point that got forgotten 2/3rds through and then just ends. If you've read the NYT article, this adds literally zero information. It's a poorly executed paraphrase.
I didn't watch the show (because I don't have Apple+) but I'm still really disappointed because he had a podcast companion that I listened to, and the man and his writers and researchers are sharp as fuck. It was so incisive, and I really admired how he was bringing what felt like Eugene Debbs and Studs Terkel levels of socialism but without ever using those words.

I also liked how the show clearly had diverse voices, but it didn't seem to pander or brag about it.
- The Podcast was really really good. I preferred it to the show. I hope he continues to explore that format.
they should just make an AI John Stewart and deep fake the video so they can have all the clout John brings without the potential trouble John's rational and thoughtful dialogue also brings
- God help us if Apple’s Siri team builds AI Jon Stewart.
On a separate note (or possibly related), I just couldn't get into this show. I love Stewart and watched daily show for years. I found the problem with... Problem was that it had a fear that the content wasn't good enough to stand on it's own so there was this constant barrage of quips that frequently fell flat. Maybe the show got better over time (I only caught the first 3 or 4 episodes).
- The Daily Show was mostly upbeat and highlighted the absurdity of politics even when they were covering serious topics, so the jokes seemed to flow pretty naturally. In The Problem Jon Stewart would oscillate between serious/morose to a few jokes and back again, it was giving me thematic whiplash and I couldn't hang with it either. I think Last Week Tonight is The Daily Show's spiritual successor.
  
  Man have you not watched last week? Morose and serious is like how I would define it. Oliver even made a joke last week about how 'if I'm talking about something it's probably horrible and tragic'.
- Same thing happened to me. I wonder if these articles are just ignoring the ratings.
  
  Which ratings do think we should use that is not manipulated these days? Apple's own rating? IMDB? Any others?
  
  For someone going after state actors like China, they could drop them overnight, or trickle it to go under the radar.
  
  ratings… geez, next you're gonna say we should trust ecommerce ratings for online purchases.
Bummer. Apple has had some of the best streaming content right now. IMHO, it’s what HBO should’ve been. This is definitely puts a black eye on the service for me.
- This is definitely puts a black eye on the service for me
  
  Right, forget about all the sweatshops and suicide nets and slave labour. this one is crossing the line.
  
  "but but but everyone does it…"
  
  no shit, Apple normalized it.
This is the best summary I could come up with:

Its cancellation sheds some light on the conflict of priorities Apple faces as it leans more into content rather than just selling tools, platforms, and gadgets.

The New York Times article cites "several people with knowledge of the situation," saying that staffers working on the show were told at the end of the day Thursday that it would not move forward.

Specifically, they claimed Stewart told staffers that Apple execs took issue with planned programming related to both China and artificial intelligence, and noted that with the 2024 US election coming up, there might have been additional opportunities for disagreement then.

Regarding China, Apple execs may have been worried that Stewart's planned commentary could alienate customers or partners in the country.

Primarily, it uses machine learning to drive things like search suggestions, photography, and palm detection.

The show's cancellation is indicative of the kinds of challenges owners of platforms (like Apple, Amazon, Google, and others) face when they are producing content, too.

The original article contains 440 words, the summary contains 162 words. Saved 63%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
- This is the problem with all modern media. It’s all profit based. It’s all a manipulation scheme to get you to fork over money.
  
  Freedom of the press has evolved into press for sale. It is ironic that we live in a world that is more interconnected than ever before, with anyone able to speak their mind to people across the globe, yet the rich still control the flow of information.
This is why Severance is so fucked
Could Amazon swoop in and hire him? Would be a boss move if they did that.
- If there is one company more evil than Apple it's Amazon. At least the genius bar workers arent forced to piss in bottles and work thru tornados
  
  It's not about good and evil, it's about relying on someone business-wise or not.
  
  Yes that's definitely worse than exploiting slave labour in China for 2 decades, amirite?

97 comments