The Daily Show

The Daily Show as a "news source"

Television ratings show that the program generally has about one million viewers nightly, a high figure for cable television. In demographic terms, the viewership is skewed to a relatively young audience compared to other news shows. A 2004 Nielsen Media Research study commissioned by Comedy Central put the median age at 35, while, for instance, the audience of The O'Reilly Factor has a median age of 63. There is anecdotal evidence that a large portion of TDS viewers are university students.

Related Topics:
Television ratings - Demographic - Nielsen Media Research - The O'Reilly Factor - University

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However, the show's writers often repeat the fact that The Daily Show is a comedy program and not a reliable news source by itself. The show does not follow the normal rules of journalistic integrity, but much of the schtick of the program involves questioning whether or not establishment television news sources in the United States, notably the cable news channels CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News Channel, are holding themselves to high journalistic standards. Also, even if one were to rely on The Daily Show for regular information, they'd be slightly out of date as the show usually covers news from the day before (due in part to the taping schedule).

Related Topics:
Schtick - Establishment - CNN - MSNBC - Fox News Channel

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The Washington Post ran an article on August 24, 2004 in which it quoted a "whining" Nightline anchor Ted Koppel, who said to his viewers in a telecast from the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston: "A lot of television viewers — more, quite frankly, than I'm comfortable with — get their news from the Comedy Channel on a program called The Daily Show."

Related Topics:
Washington Post - August 24 - 2004 - Nightline - Ted Koppel - 2004 Democratic National Convention - Boston

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Stewart took issue with Koppel's comment, saying Daily Show fans watch "for comedic interpretation" of the news. "To be informed," Koppel replied, refusing to budge from his position. "They actually think they're coming closer to the truth with your show." Stewart shot back: "Now that's a different thing, that's credibility, that's a different animal." Appearing on each other's shows a few weeks later, Koppel and Stewart downplayed the idea that the two had any animosity toward each other.

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The National Annenberg Election Survey at the University of Pennsylvania ran a study of American television viewers around the same time and found that fans of The Daily Show had a more accurate idea of the facts behind the 2004 presidential election than most others. The study primarily focused on comparing the audiences of TDS with that of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman, but Daily Show viewers also beat out people who primarily got their news through the national evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC and those who mostly read newspapers, while roughly matching the knowledge level of viewers who watched a considerable amount of cable TV news. The study attempted to compensate for the fact that many viewers of TDS get information from many sources including the Internet, though most analysts and show staffers prefer to think that Daily Show viewers use the show as part of their news filtering process rather than a source in itself.

Related Topics:
National Annenberg Election Survey - University of Pennsylvania - 2004 presidential election - The Tonight Show with Jay Leno - The Late Show with David Letterman - ABC - CBS - NBC - Newspaper - Cable TV - Internet

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Because of his increasing influence and respect, Jon Stewart was half-facetiously floated as a possible successor to Dan Rather of CBS Evening News (this is partly due to the fact that Comedy Central and CBS are both owned by media conglomerate Viacom). However, hard news is not what Stewart is about, and if such a thing were ever to happen, he would have become part of the media system that his show lampoons. Observers also note that content restrictions on terrestrial broadcasts enforced by the Federal Communications Commission in the U.S. would likely cut out much of the attraction.

Related Topics:
Dan Rather - CBS Evening News - Viacom - Broadcast - Federal Communications Commission

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Additionally, the Daily Show writers authored a best-selling text, ', published in September 2004. It remained a best seller even after the election, despite a decision by Wal-Mart to cancel its order because, as a spokeswoman was quoted in USA Today: "We felt a majority of our customers would not be comfortable with the image" . The book was also banned from some Mississippi public libraries for its ribald "centerfold" of the nine United States Supreme Court Justices in the nude. (The ban was later lifted after the library board received complaints. http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/politics/10617771.htm)

Related Topics:
Wal-Mart - USA Today - Supreme Court - Mississippi - Public libraries

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Stewart responded to this on air by saying, "of course the go-to joke here would be, 'they have libraries in Mississippi?'" Chapter 5 on the Judicial Branch includes obviously doctored photographs of the current justices, with their heads superimposed on appropriately aged naked bodies. On the page opposite the photographs, the reader is invited to "Restore their dignity" by covering each justice with a cutout of his or her robe.

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