Charlie Brooker's Newswipe 23 March 2009

Over the last few months, I’ve become obsessed with Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe- the television review programme that airs on BBC 4. Presented by Guardian columnist Charlie Brooker, its part review show, part exposé of how television is made, part opportunity for Brooker to pretend to masturbate.

Five series have been made since 2006, unfortunately they’ve never been released on DVD but Demonoid is always waiting to take over when no legal method readily presents itself.

However, this Wednesday Brooker starts a brand new series on BBC 4 at 10.30pm. Newswipe, will (according the the press notes), “take a Daily Show-style swipe at the bottomless chasm of 24-hour news”. Well, I love the Daily Show and as I’ve previously noted British television really has no equivalent.

After the terrific scourging CNBC’s Jim Cramer got when he appeared on a recent Daily Show, it showed that there is without question a place for the kind of journalism hidden beneath jokes that Jon Stewart does so well.

For those of you who have missed the excitement- Jim Cramer is the presenter of the “Mad Money” programme, a business and financial show on the US financial channel CNBC. When the channel failed to warn viewers of an impending financial meltdown, Jon Stewart invited Cramer onto the Daily Show where he did an impassioned demolition job showing up the “real” news channels who haven’t dared to take on the subject. You can watch the exchange on the Daily Show website.

I’ve been saying that the UK needs a Daily Show, but up until recently I would never have suggested Charlie Brooker as the ideal candidate. That said, apparenlty there are some who do not belive we need a Daily Show type programme- the BBC business editor Robert Peston was asked what he thought of the Jim Cramer episode, and he said that he did not feel UK financial journalists could be accused of being too easy on financial institutions.

“If Stewart tried to do that over here, I think he’d look like an idiot because I don’t think there’s evidence for falling down on the job in remotely the same way. I don’t think it’s possible to do it because the evidence isn’t there of a complacent, or self-satisfied, or lazy, or unduly optimistic media.”

I’m sure Brooker will prove him wrong.

Charlie Brooker’s Newswipe starts Wednesday 10.30pm, on BBC 4. You’ll be able to catch it on the iPlayer shortly after broadcast.