Jon Stewart: The only place for news

More Americans get their news from Jon Stewart than any other nationality.

The following column appeared in the April 21 edition of the Statesboro Herald. It was a rebuttal to a column by Dick Yarbrough.

Syndicated columnist Dick Yarbrough worries about an emerging threat to America’s future. And what is this threat exactly? Is it terrorism or nuclear weapons? Nope. Is it the reliance of foreign oil? Not quite.

Yarbrough’s worried about our nation’s future because young journalists are turning to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for their news.

In his latest column, Yarbrough writes “This show, for those of you who are not hep, is a parody of current news events, which most of us see for what it is — a joke.”

While it’s true that Stewart’s satirical wit on the day’s events is what makes the show work, what Yarbrough apparently fails to grasp is that just because people are laughing doesn’t mean they’re not learning.

Yarbrough goes on to write that Stewart is contributing to a generation “that wants to dumb down and trivialize critical issues that will confront them long after I’m gone.”Yarbrough is worried that because a journalism student at his beloved University of Georgia wrote a column in which she admits she gets her news from Stewart’s show.

In his column, Yarbrough wrote that the student’s “words and deeds both represent my alma mater, the Grady College of Journalism.”He went on to write “Tomorrow’s journalists and those who teach them must understand that news is news and comedy is comedy, and never the twain shall meet.”

What Yarbrough apparently missed is that Stewart’s program won a 2004 Peabody Award for “distinguished achievement and meritorious service by radio and television networks” for its coverage of the 2004 presidential election. The show also won in 2000 for its election coverage.

To make things even worse for Yarbrough, his beloved University of Georgia sponsors the awards. It looks as though the twain did meet.

Apparently Yarbrough missed Stewart’s appearance on CNN’s Crossfire in which he lambasted the hosts for “partisan hackery.” Stewart said Crossfire and shows like that, such as FOX News’ Hannity and Colmes, do a disservice by not debating the issues facing the nation, but instead boiling every issue down to Republican versus Democrat.

“You have a responsibility to the American discourse and you’ve failed miserably,” Stewart told the Crossfire hosts.Instead of going after the news shows and demanding they raise their level of discussion to something resembling an adult conversation, Yarbrough attacks Stewart’s show.

Yarbrough must have the same opinion of Stewart’s viewers that FOX News’ Bill O’Reilly had when he called them “stoned slackers.”

O’Reilly’s comments came about six weeks prior to last November’s election and O’Reilly was apparently disappointed that John Kerry bypassed his show for Stewart’s.

O’Reilly even said that 87 percent of Stewart’s viewers are intoxicated when they watch The Daily Show.Apparently Yarbrough hasn’t seen the research conducted by Nielson Media following the exchange by Stewart and O’Reilly.

According to Nielson Media Research, Stewart’s viewers are 78 percent more likely than the average adult to have a four or more years of college education.

I can see where Yarbrough would be worried. After all, we wouldn’t want educated people watching a program that dumbs down the news.

Fortunately, those people aren’t watching a dumbed-down version of the day’s events.In fact, according to a survey by the National Annenberg Election Survey, those who watched The Daily Show knew more about election issues than those who watched TV news or read newspapers, including, presumably, Yarbrough’s columns.

I would assume that Yarbrough hasn’t ever watched Stewart’s show. If he had, he’d know that both the Democratic and Republican party leaders have appeared on his show to discuss the current state of American politics.

I’m an avid watcher of Stewart’s show. It’s both informative and entertaining, something Yarbrough must not believe is possible.

Luke Martin is a reporter for the Statesboro Herald. He doesn’t stray from humor writing often, but in this case, something had to be said. He can be reached at (912) 489-9454 or via email at lmartin@statesboroherald.net.