In maybe one the most hilarious social tragedies i have ever seen, it states that Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, is the most trusted name in news. This is bittersweet to me.
Let's start with the sweet. I love Jon Stewart. Although he is very Liberal, at least he is honest about where he stands. This is contrary to Fox News who claim to be "Fair and Balanced" (insert puking noise here) yet are more right-sided than Ronald Reagan's balls. Also, when i first started watching his show, i realized i had been accidentally learning. All of a sudden i could join in on political conversations that i had avoided before with the risk of looking foolish. I also found myself finding particular stories interesting or bizarre and researching them to look for the facts. I enjoyed seeing Stewart call people out on their hypocrisy. Sometimes to the general audience by showing two contradicting statements made by the same person in clips, other times to the person themselves. This man was educating me on things that i had never been aware of, or even cared about before...and was making me laugh while doing it. Even on depressing issues like war and recession, Stewart managed to squeeze some laughs out of us. And this is no easy feat. Satire, bathroom humor, high-brow, and interviews were all weapons in informing the public. Although my political views are on the other side of the map, this liberal had more honesty than Rush or O'Reilly. In painful interviews with Jim Cramer or his appearance on CNN's Crossfire (which Stewart gets the credit for getting it canceled after the interview. also he called Tucker a "d***" on national TV), you can trust what this man is saying (keeping in mind that it comes from a left mindset) and know that he is not lying to the public. He calls out democrats and republicans alike on their political B.S.. In fact, some conservatives are prefferring to be interviewed by him than some of the jackasses on the "news". Cliff May said of Stewart, ""There is genuine intellectual curiosity. He's a staunch liberal, but he's a thoughtful liberal, and I respect that.". John Bolton (Bush's ambassador to the U.N.) said "He always gives you a chance to answer, which some people don't do", he continued to say "He's got his perspective, but he's been fair. In general, a lot of the media, especially on the left, has lost interest in debate and analysis. It has been much more ad hominem. Stewart fundamentally wants to talk about the issues. That's what I want to do." Real discussion happens on the Daily Show, not just scripted fluff.
As mentioned, this show is on Comedy Central, a cable channel with other shows that have obese kids eating cheesy poofs and prank calling puppets. Not the place i would go to for news. So it is actually really sad (this is the bitter part) that i would have to resort to coming here for a trusted source. And i am not alone. According to TIME 44% claim to trust him over Couric and Williams. This is the public making a statement. Like when fellow comedian Stephen Colbert ran for president in South Carolina and was actually ahead of real politicians in the polls. The public was saying they would rather vote for a comedian than another lying politician. It's depressing that in the world of 24-hour news networks, at least a significant part of the American public would rather tune in to a half hour comedy show for their information. Fox has to be able to admit that not everything that Obama does is evil. MSNBC has to realize the good that Bush did do. But both sides are so set in their ways that America is starting to lose taste for that kind of reporting.
http://www.timepolls.com/hppolls/archive/poll_results_417.html
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