Tina Fey blames (and evades) the media

Last week, we discussed Tina Fey seeming to dis Jon Stewart in an interview in Reader’s Digest magazine. Yesterday, while I was intrepidly uncovering what The Future Of Television was going to be like (and coming up vexingly short), Fey had a phone-press conference touting the return of “30 Rock” in which she was asked about her comments.

TINA FEY: “Well, you know, that thing was edited kind of weird because I was really talking about audiences and how, you know, audiences respond weirdly to things. And when I was talking, I said, like you know, on Weekend Update or anything.

“And then that kind of went away, so it seemed like I was saying something bad about those guys. And I think they know that I think their show is great and would absolutely never be disparaging of their show.”

Fey deserves a pass because the piece, in fact, was edited pretty awfully. But then, another reporter asked her about her “Bitches get stuff done” endorsement of Hillary Clinton on “Saturday Night Live,” and was almost shot down by a network flak:

CAROL JANSON: “We would like to keep the questions more to ‘30 Rock.’ Next question?”

This is Exhibit A in why I don’t do these things: This sort of micro-management of what reporters can and cannot say and the brazen effort to prevent interviewees from saying anything remotely political or controversial. Heaven forbid any news emerge from a news conference.

The reporter then neatly turned it into a ‘30 Rock’ question by asking where Liz Lemon, Fey’s character, would stand on the issue. But Fey got Janson’s point:

TINA FEY: “I think, you know, ‘30 Rock’ especially, we like to sort of just put things out there that hopefully spark discussion. … Liz Lemon also said last year that -when she was confessing her secrets to Floyd, she said, ‘I might tell everyone I’m voting for Obama and secretly vote for McCain.’

“And so I think there’s just a level of - I think there’s a certain small section of - sector of people that do think that and so we just kind of like to put that stuff out there.

“I think the - our role is more to spark discussion and to try to clarify and point out what we’re observing more than to really endorse or campaign for anybody.”

Aw, Tina. You were so much more fun when you actually said what was on your mind. Even if it was dissing Jon Stewart.