I'm a huge fan of Jon Stewart's «Daily Show». And I'm not the only one: In a survey on America's favorite journalists, Jon came in fourth. And last year, the New York Times asked «Is Jon Stewart the Most Trusted Man in America?»
Why on earth would people trust a guy who does «fake news»?
The cynical answer would be that most TV viewers have just lost their faith in TV reporting and are turning to the «Daily Show», where they don't get the truth either - but at least something to laugh.
But maybe there are other, and more cheerful, explanations for this.
First, the business of news is rapidly changing: Pure information is not a scarce resource anymore - you can find out what happened in the world anytime from the internet, from thousands of sources, for free. This abundancy of information drives up the demand for a complementary good of «news»: analysis. The more people know what happened, the more they want to know why. And by making fun of public figures and media coverage while deconstructing their often manipulative and inconsisten behaviour, the Daily Show is actually providing a form of analysis.
Second, the distribution channels of information are also changing. The web enables and favors viral distribution patterns - and what is more viral than comedy? If you find an insightful and intelligent article online, you might e-mail that to a few people. But if you see a funny video on YouTube, you will blog and tweet and facebook the hell out of it - and shows like the «Daily Show» can vastly increase their reach. (Of course, all of this is only possible because the producers of the show were actually smart enought to put all of their clips online for free.)
This might even point to a bigger trend: Just as the «Daily Show» manages to combine comedy and actual insights, it seems to become more acceptable or even desirable to have fun while doing serious things - like work. Fun is no longer perceived as just recreational, but also productive: If you enjoy yourself, then you just deliver better results.
PS. As a thank you for reading until the end of this post, here are two of my favourite Daily Show clips:
