The New York Times with a great article on my favourite fake news anchorman, Jon Stewart.
MR. STEWART describes his job as “throwing spitballs” from the back of the room and points out that “The Daily Show” mandate is to entertain, not inform. Still, he and his writers have energetically tackled the big issues of the day — “the stuff we find most interesting,” as he said in an interview at the show’s Midtown Manhattan offices, the stuff that gives them the most “agita,” the sometimes somber stories he refers to as his “morning cup of sadness.” And they’ve done so in ways that straight news programs cannot: speaking truth to power in blunt, sometimes profane language, while using satire and playful looniness to ensure that their political analysis never becomes solemn or pretentious.
The Daily Show genuinely cuts to the heart of an issue, exposing more hypocrisy and subterfuge than any number of “genuine” current affairs shows. I wish it would return to free-to-air here in Australia … [sigh].
