Jon Stewart the next Walter Cronkite?

With this sorry excuse for a school week coming to a close, I’m going to relieve some growing frustration I have for the writers’ strike. I’ve been without my nightly political satire for almost three weeks; I don’t need to tell you that it’s rough, you probably know already.

I’ve already said that I don’t consider The Daily Show/Colbert Report to be real journalism, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t affected the political/current event education of the masses. While this article is old, it’s information is viable today. CNN found that viewers of The Daily Show knew more about politics in 2004 than non-viewers. That’s a pretty big deal; though I might not equate Stewart or Colbert’s accomplishments with those of Walter Cronkite, the overall effect of the shows is one that accomplished broadcasters can only dream of. Despite the shows’ notable success, Stewart and Colbert are missing a key characteristic found in every typical news show. I’ve been a journalism student less than one hundred days, and I can still tell you that the lack of objectivity will forever distinguish Comedy Central’s news from real news.

This article offers a little criticism on Stewart’s business of criticism.

“Stewart, who has called the Iraq war a mistake, is more likely than Jay Leno or David Letterman to ridicule Bush while going easy on Kerry, the Project for Excellence in Journalism found. ‘He's an outstanding comedian, but clearly he does comedy from the Democratic left perspective,’ says Republican strategist Mike Murphy. ‘A lot of people who watch Stewart and howl at the jokes already have their minds made up in the presidential race,’ ” Howard Kurtz, of The Washington Post, writes.

So it’s very obvious that both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert “report” the news with a liberal bias, but what does this have to do with college students? Well, believe it or not, there is a ridiculous amount of research done on this topic. A study called The Daily Show: Candidate Evaluations, Efficacy, and American Youth claims that the 18-24 year olds are the largest age group viewing the show and 54% of this entire age bracket reports The Daily Show as one of their news sources. I will do you a favor, and not hyperlink this study; it will lead you to a 28-page PDF, and no one wants that. Every study I found is based on the election of 2004; so before I embark on a mission through the world wide web to find something more recent, I’ll leave this subject for a later date. By later, I mean tomorrow. I wonder how many times I will suffer the consequences of procrastination before I learn the lesson.

As a departing note, my roommate and I took our recycling out today. Seven bags. It was a good time, and a long walk. But, we have doubled the floor space in our dorm.