Study of 'Daily Show': It's a lot like O'Reilly

By DAVID BAUDER,

Posted: 2008-05-08 16:15:06

NEW YORK (AP) - A journalism think tank studying "The Daily Show" doesn't believe many people get their news from Jon Stewart - because otherwise they wouldn't get the jokes.

The Project for Excellence in Journalism also said it was surprised at how much the Comedy Central late-night program resembles "The O'Reilly Factor," "Hardball" and other cable news shows in content.

The Washington-based organization asked its researchers to study a year's worth of "The Daily Show" tapes - hardly a grim assignment - after hearing the frequent claim that many young people learn about the world from Stewart instead of more traditional news sources.

Tom Rosenstiel, the project's director, said he doubts this is the case. He considers "The Daily Show" more of a political satire in the tradition of newspapermen like Art Buchwald, H.L. Mencken and Russell Baker.

"They're not making jokes about Dan Quayle is dumb or Gerald Ford is clumsy," he said. "They're not making jokes that you could get if you live in the country but don't read the news .

You can't get the jokes if you're not watching the news. The jokes are designed to make you think more about the news."

A Comedy Central representative had no immediate comment on the study. Stewart has consistently ridiculed the idea that he's somehow a newsman, saying he's just a comic.

Politics, government and the Bush administration's policies in Iraq accounted for about half of the show's content, making it quite similar to the focus of serious cable news shows, the study said. About 8 percent of the show's time is spent looking at the behavior of the press.

The show is actually making some very serious political commentary, "but they use humor to do it," Rosenstiel said.

With some stories in no way conducive to humor, "The Daily Show" ignores certain big events. The Minnesota bridge collapse wasn't mentioned on the show, and the Virginia Tech massacre was largely ignored, the study said.

And, of course, sometimes the news gives way to pure comedy. On a January day when traditional newscasts led with severe winter weather gripping much of the country, "Stewart began his show by pondering what drink would be best to wash down a Jimmy Dean pancake and sausage on a stick," the study said.

The verdict: Gatorade.

While Stewart aims most of his firepower at Republicans, the show is actually pretty balanced in its bookings, the study noted. Of the clearly partisan, 15 guests were conservative and 18 were liberal. Presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain was a guest on Wednesday's show.

"The fact that the lineup of guests is actually even surprised me," Rosenstiel said. "I thought going in that there weren't that many Republicans who would be willing to go on the show."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

05/08/08 16:14 EDT

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ecurry10 04:55:18 PM May 09 2008

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Funy how O'Riley has on average the 2nd or 3rd highest ratings every night. How is he low for his time slot???

ecurry10 04:52:12 PM May 09 2008

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The Daily show is a complete Anti-Bush, Republican and everything that most people find sane and usefull in life. Thats Stewarts only thing, Anti-GOP. When or god forbid a Liberal gets elected into the White house, and crap really hits the fan, what is his show going to focus on?? Like he stated before, if Kerry won in 2004, he would not have a show, He would like living in a Tax everything Liberal and ecenomically devestated country, starting in 2004, not 2006 when liberals took over the house and senate and took this country to a dead stop, but he would have no material.

efogey 10:49:39 AM May 09 2008

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Calling someone a Zionist is not an insult. Calling someone an antiZionist is an insult. AntiZionists are people who think that jews have no right to self determination. This is a basic right that many groups have claimed since the American revolution and Zionism is a self determination movement that ebgan in the late 19th century when even secular Jews saw the intense antisemitism even in enlightened countries such as France. Modern antisemites have tried ti hide their antisemitism in the guise of antiZionism but we see it what for it really is, old fashioned folk antisemitism which has been around for 2 millenia.

Sammyshow 08:31:34 AM May 09 2008

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AS I HAVE LEARNED,HATRED OF JEWS IS BASED ON STUPIDITY,BIGOTRY,AND JEALOUSY...SO WHICH ONE ARE THE IDIOTS WHO JUST SPEWED OUT THE VENOM I JUST READ?

s4tune 08:27:53 AM May 09 2008

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John Stewart is a Comic........... that's it....... He probably sits and laughs at these "studies" comparing him to a news show.

If his jokes make you laugh, then he is doing his job. If they make you think then it is a bonus. If it is all the truth, then we are all in Deep Chit!

Danielandrewdavi 03:55:07 AM May 09 2008

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WHY DOES TMZ'S HARVEY LEVIN - A JEW - ALWAYS GIVE GOOD PRESS TO OTHER JEWS LIKE SHIA LABOUF THE POOF AND THE HIDEAOUS TORI SPELLING - ALSO JEWISH BUT HATES ON ALL THE NON-JEWISH CELEBRITIES?

I GUESS - BASED ON HIS TRACK RECORD THE UGLY HARVEY LEVIN IS A ZIONIST!!!! OYVAY!

Danielandrewdavi 07:59:52 PM May 08 2008

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The Daily Show has that weird biased Hollywood liberal atheist BUT zionist pro-Jewish but Christian/Catholic hating peace loving but Muslim killing, the Chinese are evil/budhists in Tibet are good - capital punishment is wrong but killing Saddam Husseign and sexually torturing Muslim men is funny ....contradiction.

In short it is the Jewish equivilant of Bill Oreilly's program. Totally unfair and unbalanced. Totally one sided version of the beliefs of its producers and writers who only hire and friends and family with the same views as they have.

mchfoun 07:45:48 PM May 08 2008

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Ok David Bauder, okay.......... come clean; how much did that fake o'really? pay you to put his nameoin the same page as The Daily Show? Most of the so-called talk shows are frauds as the so-called "hosts" aren't even Bouncers. All they do is narrowcast, snipe and ambush people who have a better view of the truth -which is always and they never have legitimate sponsors. We use to call those types of programs, Throw-aways and Fillers. We knew they weren't the real deal and never tried to insult the audience by claiming they were something else. This is worse than a week-old tuna sand, left in your car DB.

WiteWater 07:09:28 PM May 08 2008

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The Daily Show is like Hardball or the O'Reilly factor??? Let's see.. Stewart is funny, smart and often self deprecating in his commentary. Sounds like the antithesis of O'Reilly and Mathews, truth be told......

mchfoun 06:53:17 PM May 08 2008

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Tom Rosenstiel is right on the money when he cpm,apre Stewrt's show to a Art Buchwald and so on. But, for anyone to compare The Daily show to a low, low (in the toilet) ratings of a o' really? show? OMG, and that came from a joke called Project for Excellence in Journalism? Now, that isssssssss funny. What a waste of time and funding! You can't watch different programs and paint them all with the same bloody brush? Nauseating to see a once great industry full of fresh, objective and brave approaches to everyday events get round-filed/shredded for a dozen or so (and) you call them Talk Shows? . Wow, that's some project, huh? Thanks Tom U R Correct.....

SeventhEve 06:49:14 PM May 08 2008

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'The Daily Show' has had better coverage of the elections this year than any of the other so-called "real" news shows. The fact that it's a satire program speaks more to how terrible the news media in this country has become than to how informative TDS actually is.

alansells2 05:22:55 PM May 08 2008

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He said it himself, he's a comic. Not much funny to be found in a bridge collapse or campus shooting. Imagine that, not funny, not on the show. Show must be first about funny, secondly about news that can be laughed at.

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