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May 27, 2006
Why the Daily Show is the only news program I watch.
It’s the only real news program on TV...
Py Korry comments on my previous post about the media. He basically says that serious analysis is a ratings killer; people’d rather be watching American Idol. He then points out the success of the Daily Show (and its spin-off Colbert Report) as an example of how “fake” news manages to be both interesting and informative...
For decades, Americans have been told that politics is the enemy, that it holds no meaning in your life. To the extent that Americans believe no one could have stopped 9/11 or kept New Orleans on the map, Americans don’t care about politics. Why should we? If the game is both opaque and dull—and meaningless—you can hardly expect people to stand up and say “that’s not cricket” when a politician does something non-scandalously evil...
The state of our national infrastructure is of the utmost urgency. We have a frantic need to address our finances. Healthcare is a matter of life and death. Since Americans don’t actually believe that these things can be addressed by government, Americans don’t tune in. This is the great strength of the Daily Show—Jon Stewart takes these issues seriously. It is clear that he feels the process is important. The gods granted him the gift of comedy, and so he uses that as his tool—a scalpel to peal away the bullshit and show us what is going on...
To a large extent, the Daily Show is the least fake news program on TV. The strength of the show isn’t Stewart’s humor—the medium isn’t the message. No one else is treating the American public as adults capable of understanding their government. Everyone else treats Washington DC as a giant High School where popularity is more important than grades...
Posted by Andrew at May 27, 2006 11:29 AM
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