09/25/2005   English German
  Edition # 56  
San Francisco, 09-25-2005

The Daily Show
Figure [1]: Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show"

Michael It has already been mentioned that you can no longer watch TV news in the USA. The channel "Fox" is the mouthpiece of George W. Bush's Ministry of Propaganda. And he is increasingly embarrassing to most Americans I regularly interact with. The previously quite objective channel CNN has recently been reporting in a strangely one-sided manner. And the local stations don't cover world news, but rather local nonsense, weather, and sports. The Iraq war only seems to interest these editorial teams if there is news about a soldier from the local county who died.

Since most Americans do not get their political information from newspapers but instead keep the TV on, the most well-known networks determine the political stance in the country. In the medium of television, a picture often says more than a thousand words. As a result, hardly anyone internalizes political content. However, as soon as Bush appears in rolled-up shirt sleeves, like after the disaster in New Orleans, everyone knows: The man is doing something.

There are indeed radio stations like NPR that broadcast profound political analyses and TV programs like "News Hour with Jim Lehrer" on KQED that delve into political topics. However, since only a small minority in America stays engaged with more complex stories for longer than 30 seconds, these political programs are limited to a niche market.

But something has changed: Instead of seriously delivered news (which is actually ridiculous), there is now a funny show on the channel "Comedy Central" that people with sense actually watch instead: "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart.

In the first few seconds of the show, a kind of news studio appears, but when the host starts to scribble on his pad during the pounding intro music, seemingly diligently but like a three-year-old, it quickly becomes clear that it's a parody. And yet, this is currently almost the only show on American television that clearly states that American foreign policy is not very well received at the moment and that Bush is not the smartest. High-ranking guests from politics appear and give interesting interviews.

When a strongly religious, ultra-conservative figure in the Senate spouts nonsense and the house goes wild, it rarely makes it to the TV news. But if it's funny, it is guaranteed to be featured on the Daily Show, and thus at least a humor-interested minority learns about the clown show, despite the censorship attempts by the established broadcasters.

Almost all of my colleagues are also avid fans of the show, which is eagerly discussed at the lunch table. Interestingly, it had looked like the late-night programming scene was set in stone for years: It was clear that David Letterman would continue indefinitely, and Jay Leno would work on the competing channel for another five years before being replaced by Conan O'Brien. But suddenly, on the little-known channel "Comedy Central" (which also launched the series "South Park"), the unknown Jon Stewart appeared and shook up the entire scene. The show cannot be compared to sluggish offerings like Letterman or Leno; Jon Stewart is incredibly sharp and clever. Everyone is talking about the show, and it receives tremendous support, especially among circles that have become disillusioned with the government. You learn what's happening in the world, and you can laugh at the same time. Perfect.

And when a reporter in New York tries to see if someone in a Nazi uniform can hail a taxi with the Hitler salute, it's super funny! By the way, it didn't work; no taxi stopped, and passersby gave the masked reporter the middle finger. All legal, as the First Amendment of the Constitution in America still guarantees the right to free speech.

Figure [2]: Field experiment on the "Daily Show": Can you hail a taxi in New York with the Hitler salute?
RSS Feed
Mailing Liste
Impressum
Mike Schilli Monologues

Get announcements for new editions

New editions of this publication appear in somewhat random intervals. To receive a brief note when they're available in your mailbox (about once every two months on average), you can register your email on the 'usarundbrief' Google Groups list.

Your email address
All Editions:

 

Send us a comment
We'd like to hear from you, please send us feedback if you want to comment on the content or have suggestions for future topics.

Simply write your your message into the text box below. If you'd like a response from us, please also leave your email. If you want to stay anonymous, simply put 'anonymous' into the email field. This way we'll get the message, but we have no way to respond to you.

Your email address

Message
 
Contact the authors
Latest update: 11-Dec-2025