After the Democratic Debate on April 16th, both Gibson and Stephanopoulos received a beating for the questions they asked Clinton and Obama. Apparently, both Gibson and Stephanopoulos went for ratings instead of answers at the debate not knowing that it would kick them in the face later. On the other hand, ‘The Daily Show’ host Jon Stewart is racking up ratings and delivering the news to more viewers each day. A lot of people get their news from Stewart rather than a local or national news network station. Not only does Jon Stewart provide humor to his shows but he also presents factual information about politics and other important news. A recent article compares Stewart to a journalist:
Stewart is a funnyman first and may never be taken seriously as a journalist. But the journalistic portion of his show is done better than most of those offered by many of the blatherheads on television today. He interviews fascinating people in the news. He goes toe-to-toe with individuals who have been at or near the seats of power in the world, from Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf to Ralph Nader to former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and many others.
Stewart gets information from these powerful people that people care about. He actually has intelligent questions to ask that other journalists would not think of. Of course he cracks his jokes here and there in between questions during the interviews, but he still can receive better answers than Gibson or Stephanopoulos have. I believe that people tune into ‘The Daily Show’ mainly for Stewart’s witty humor, but they can find that he can be seen as a journalist. Maybe people would rather get their news from him because they get tired of learning about the latest murderer or criminal who is on the loose. Just because he is a funny man does not mean that he is not smart, too.
If ABC and other traditional news outlets are hell-bent on treating future presidential debates with all the decorum of celebrity roasts, maybe it’s time to hand the microphones over to Stewart and his esteemed colleague, Stephen Colbert. There’s a better than even chance they’ll ask questions about the economy and health care during the first 52 minutes rather than regurgitate picked-over tripe such as the absence of a flag pin on Obama’s lapel or Clinton’s memory of sniper fire in Bosnia.
It seems as if the regular American journalist just is not doing their job anymore. We need to leave it to the comedian to get the answers out to the public now.
3 comments:
Jon Stewart's journalist skills have a fine line. In my eyes he is both an informer and a comedian. I think the information that is he presents to his audience is designed to recap the events of the day but also to provide humor to issues that many people are not really comfortable with hearing or for those that are tired of hearing the same topics daily.
Stewart is pretty amazing with his comedic commentary when it comes to news stories. He has had numerous political powers in his hot seat and usually makes the interview interesting. I would have to agree with Alicia that Stewart has become more than just a comedian. People are wanting to hear the news with a side of comedy and he delivers it well. He cuts through all the nonsense and lays it on the table for all Americans to see.
These days Americans seem to rather be entertained than educated. What better way to educate them than to make them laugh all at the same time? I actually have a shirt that says Stewart Colbert '08. Unfortunately I didn't get my wish, but I still love the fact that more and more people are trusting Jon Stewart over the more "serious" journalists. Most of the anchors I see today seem fake anyways. It just looks like their reading the prompter and saying what they bossman wants them to see. In other words it's usually BIAS. Stewart on the other hand gives his take on everything of course, but he also gives both sides and he makes fun of EVERYONE... making it equal :)
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