Okay. You've already heard this news blurb, no doubt. Most college students (your peers) get their news from The Daily Show but (oops) don't double check it with a newspaper or "hard news" television show. The article at this link refers to a study that appears to back the claim that The Daily Show is making you all (your peers!) worse citizens. What do you think?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/22/AR2006062201474.html
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16 comments:
Reading this article it makes me laugh. I do not think John Stewart is killing democracy if anything he is saving it. Young voters are showing up to the poles and seem to be very well informed. If it were not for John Stewart I would not have been as well informed. The information may have been twisted to a point for humor but it still informs. I do believe that John Stewart does bring some sort of question about politicians. These questions are a good thing. If one gets a negative view about politicians it may just mean that the person has done something to be in that position.
The news today does have an agenda. Having a show like the daily show that brings some sort of light to subjects that have been twisted by the news media. Viewers of the Daily show should always check their facts before coming up with a judgment. The daily show brings new twist to different topics such as politics.
I have to admit, I havent watched an entire episode of John Stewart's show, but have glanced at it. Honestly, the show doesnt interest me because it criticizes most of the politicians in our country.
I agree with the article when it mentions that the Daily Show, "develops cynical views about politics and politicians that could lead people to just say no to voting." The things he says are inappropiate. Even though, the show is entirely based on his opinions about the politicians and is somewhat humorous, it might affect people who take the show seriously.
When "the results showed that the participants rated both candidates more negatively after watching Stewart's program. Participants also expressed less trust in the electoral system and more cynical views of the news media." one can come to the conclusion that people can truly be gullable and be influenced by this type of show.
I think that people can watch any type of show they want, but they have to have a set mind and not be easily influenced or convinced by what it's being discussed on TV.
Maria Altamirano
I do agree with Maria's opinion that the Daily Show can give negative perspectives of democracy to the people. College students are more affected by the show than older people since they just got the right to vote and therefore have less knowledge and certain judgment skills about politics. I am certain that there are people who are knowledgeable about politics who can use the specific information from these shows. However since I do not know much about Ameircan politics, I fell into every statement by Stewart and got a bad impression of democracy. Therefore, I believe "The Daily Show" which has exaggerated information can give wrong images of politics to those who do not have good knowledge about it.
i dont not agree with this article. Even dome of the kids dont double check the newspaper, it still raises awareness amoung young people. I think people like john stuart and stephen colbert have used a subject (comedy) that is popular among todays youth to raise awarness. Most of what they say is a joke and is incorrect, but at least kids are listening to something.
The only part of the article that i do agree with is the fact that john stuart brings light to subjects that are serious and demand attnetion. I can understand how the news would see that as a threat, and that the new ideas being put in kids heads creates problems, but for the most part it is not that big of a deal
Reading the article on “The Daily Show” gave me mixed emotions. Personally, I have no knowledge or interest in politics whatsoever. I am pretty much equivalent to a child when it comes to knowing about politics and having opinions pertaining to political issues. I have only watched "The Daily Show" because of this blog assignment. I did not mind the show itself, but I do see how it is possible that it could potentially be a threat to democracy. Daily does twist certain information in a way to both entertain and appease his own personal views. Yet, at the same token anyone who has any political knowledge and background won’t take this completely to heart. Either way the show seemed fairly entertaining, and I think it just depends on the viewers knowledge to whether it is hurting democracy. I think someone with not much political background should not take the information that they hear seriously; and those who do have political knowledge should take it as an entertaining political talk.
I find myself having mixed feelings about this article because some of the points that are being made are just too extreme. For example, I definetly would not go as far as to say that Stewart's show is "poisening democracy" or that we are worse citizens for watching it. I do agree that a lot of the information he gives out is biased and twisted, but it is mainly for comical effect. Stewart's opinions definetly have a large impact on his viewers, but it is not like he is forcing his opinions on them. I think this has to do with the type of person watching his show and how informed they are on political issues. This is when I think The Daily Show can be damaging because some teenagers are not well informed on these issues and are very impressionable. Therefore these college students or teenagers take what he says seriously rather than seeing his show as entertaining.
I also think his show does some good for college students and teenagers because most young adults do not watch the actual news channels. So with his show you get some good and bad. His information may be biased, but at least he is giving his viewers sufficient and educational information.
I definately disagree with the fact that the Daily Show is poisoning democracy. I feel that like any television show will have an impact on someone, but only to a certain extent. If the majority of the Daily Show's viewers are college students you would think that they would have enought knowledge not to be completely persuaded by one man's ideas.
I agree with Mike that atleast the Daily Show is bringing awareness to people. It is educated college students about current events that they would know nothing about otherwise. The humor is another appeal in the show, and draws viewers in.
I have also never watched a full episode of the Daily Show, but was able to find a few clips of it online. After reading the article in the Washington Post I feel it was also extremely exaggerated. By the time students are in college, especially in today’s society the majority of them are able to watch programs like the Daily Show with an open mind and realize it may not be completely based on truth. The fact that the show is aired on comedy central and clearly is going for extreme entertainment value makes me believe that a large percentage of the viewers aren’t watching it for their only source of news information.
I agree with both Matt and Kelly in that we should give credit to the Daily Show for being able to bring some awareness of politics and current events to a group that probably would not take the time to learn about these events unless it had some comedic relief to it. And it is clear that the Daily Show does not have the power to “poison democracy”, American’s should be given more credit in their intelligence than to be so severely influenced by one TV show.
Honestly I agree with Matt on this one, the article is a joke. The Daily Show has no bearing on how people think. If it dose that person shouldn’t be voting in the first place. One person on TV isn’t going to make America’s college students dislike the government, a crappy president will. John Stewart is just there for our entertainment, he is not a threat to anything accept possibly Stephen Colbert.
I’m on the same page as Catherine when she says she has mixed feelings about the article and The Daily Show with John Stewart. I have only watched one episode of The Daily Show and because I’m not that interested in politics, the show did not appeal to me. I have to admit it, Stewart made “learning” about politics more interesting, and I can agree with the author of the article that it does impact some teens. Stewart basically ripped apart some politicians and glorified others and put a raunchy flare on politics. I totally agree that most college kids who watch John Stewart don’t watch the “real” news right after and compare facts and statistics that were made on The Daily Show, which could possibly ruin democracy.
As for an impact on if people vote or not, and how they vote- I believe the show has an impact, but not as big of an impact as the author of the article is making it out to be. Like I said, I was interested in the raunchy aspect of Stewart but that’s not enough to make me vote Republican against Democratic, or visa versa. Most people already have set opinions and they’ll vote with their gut- not what a show on Comedy Central tells them.
Just to comment on Matt's point, perhaps viewers of ANY show should check their facts before coming up with a judgment. . . perhaps they should watch less Tila Tequila and more about the war in Iraq.
(Sorry. I am having an entire week of self-righteousness. . . )
I have to agree with maria i dont think the show is very interesting or any of the political shows that have a more humorous spin on them. I understand exactly why they are making the shows, to inform people about politics from the prospective of the host who is much more entertaining than the dry, bland reporters on cnn and other television broadcasts. But if the demographic that is targeted by these shows are becoming more informed and able to vote with some sense of knowing who and why they are voting the show is a good things. I also think that people watching the show have to have enough intelectual capacity to watch the show with "a grain of salt" and still be able to differ the opinion of the host and their own opinion.
I completely agree with Cat's point when she mentions, "I do agree that a lot of the information he gives out is biased and twisted, but it is mainly for comical effect."
Even though Stewart does say some twisted things on his show, it is all for comical purposes. His show is supposed to entertain his viewers and not to be taken seriously by any means.
Maria A.
I agree completely with blogqueen; viewers of any show should check their facts before coming up with judgment. I think the lack of information we know before we watch a show is a growing problem in society today. Not knowing facts before making judgment is an invalid interpretation. It can easily be compared to school, would you write a paper on whether you liked a book if you didn't read the book? While I understand not everyone is going to check there facts, I do not think many viewers do at all.
I think that most people that watch The Daily Show watch it more for the entertainment then to get information on politics. It is the only source of news that many of its viewers are receiving but I think if it wasn’t for this show, which allows them to receive news in an entertaining way, then they wouldn’t be watching the news at all. I will have to agree with the article that it does make politics seem cynical but maybe because in many ways politics really is quite cynical. It isn’t just bashing one side or the other. It tends to bash both democrats and republicans and doesn’t have a real strong bias that a lot of news shows do at least form the few episodes that I have seen. Although this may not be the ideal way for college students to be receiving their news, I do believe it is better than nothing.
I agree with blog queen and pk. It is very important for people to check their facts but a lot of times people are too lazy to do so and always believe what they hear. A lot f times the media can be so good and persuading and seem to make really good points that it is hard to believe that what they are saying ma not be true. I think especially people our age and younger can be easily persuaded because there is a lot we don’t know and are trying to learn. We are used to picking up new information in classes and books and may just as easily pick up information we see on television. With so much going on it is hard to find time to check facts and we may retain bad information without even realizing it.
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