People have varying opinions on Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. They're two Comedy Central "political correspondents" who have the power to make us laugh about the news. Does this mean that they are credible news sources? The major networks can try to discredit them all they want, but Stewart and Colbert definitely strike a chord in America's hearts, especially in the young demographic.
I can tell you from first-hand perspective that very few of my classmates watch news on TV. Sure, most of my friends have the New York Times as their homepage and read it every morning during breakfast or before (or during) class and tune into CNN as they sit at the Ratty eating lunch or dinner, but ABC? NBC? CBS? Nope. Most people my age couldn't care less about the news anchors on those channels and what's being reported. Instead, lots of us go straight to watch a channel that's not known for news: Comedy Central.
Comedy Central's line-up includes, of course, comedy shows, but for the news, a lot of my friends (myself included) love to tune into The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. When we recall the rise of today's Fragmented Media era, it becomes evident that these two news shows exemplify what the era is all about. They add a comedic twist to the news with a political left and right slant. However, are these shows credible news sources? Should we trust what comes out of Stewart's and Colbert's mouths?
Although both Stewart and Colbert are educated, neither of them received formal journalism training, something that Hearst and Pulitzer would certainly look down upon, especially if they knew the large following and fans that both funnymen have. Both comedians have one thirty-minute show that airs multiple times throughout the work week, which pales in comparison to the amount of news coverage that the major networks and alternative such as CNN and MSNBC can devote. So in essence, those of us who solely turn to Stewart and Colbert are definitely missing out on a majority of the happenings in the country and the world that are covered by major networks actually known for reporting news.
Does this mean that we're doing ourselves a disservice by only tuning into these Comedy Central "news" shows? No, I don't believe so. I personally believe that Colbert and Stewart are news catalysts. That is, they incite the young demographic, a group that might appear disinterested in current events, to explore the news learn more about the goings on in the world. Because of the Internet giving us the ability to access news virtually whenever and wherever, people like Colbert and Stewart don't have to give us all of the information we need to know; we can easily access what we want to know ourselves in our own time. They are credible news sources, but they're well aware that they are not full-time reporters that have all of the facts. That, they leave, up to us.
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