Last night I watched the encore episode of the Daily Show from Obama’s 100th day in office. The half-hour long episode consisted of three main discussion topics: Arlen Specter dropping the GOP, a spoof of a “senior black correspondent” evaluating Obama’s progress thus far, and an interview with Doris Kearns Goodwin, a presidential historian.
The discussion of Arlen Specter switching from the Republican side to join the Democrats was covered in just as much detail as was seen on the 6:30 network news. Both programs explained how this means that the Democrats will gain the majority of control over the House and Senate, most likely making the party filibuster-proof. One thing that Jon Stewart said that I hadn’t seen on the network news, however, was his belief that Arlen Specter switched parties merely to get re-elected. He noted how Arlen told reports he switched sides “out of principle,” but Stewart doesn’t buy this and denounced the notion by maintaining that he switched only so that the Democrats would elect him to serve again. Besides that tidbit, the information that was presented on both the Daily Show and the network news seemed to be equal in their content and degree of factual information.
The second segment of the episode featured a satire of a “senior black correspondent” evaluating President’s Obama’s success so far on a scale made up of slang vernacular. He maintained that the stimulus bill is “off the heazy fo sheazy”. The comedian also noted that the closing of Guantanamo Bay was “aight” because it stands for everything America has done wrong in this war on terror. This type of discussion certainly would never appear on the 6:30 network news; however that obviously wasn’t Daily Show writers’ intentions. This type of dialogue is purely for comedy-sake and to get a laugh out of viewers, however the issues that that were discussed are of the same genre of issues that are discussed on standard network news programs.
The last part of the Daily Show included an interview with presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. Goodwin discussed the status of President Obama thus far on his 100th day in office. She stated that Obama is doing a good job so far, and described him as being calm, steady, and thick-skinned. She went on to say that he doesn’t get rattled very easily and has more confidence than most of the presidents who have led our nation. This type of commentary also appears on the standard network news, although it would have a different spin depending on if you’re watching CNN or Fox news. Goodwin also mentioned that President Obama is trying to maintain some sense of normalcy in his life, and that he still gets freaked out when everyone stands up for him upon walking into a room.
Upon comparing the news presented in the Daily Show with that of the 6:30 network news, it appears that both programs cover basically the same exact news, just in different ways. While the network news tends to do so in a more traditional manner, it is clear that John Stewart purposely puts a humorous tilt on all of his information, thus making it more entertaining and enjoyable to viewers. As an avid viewer of CNN, I always find it refreshing to watch the Daily Show and get a little humor with my news. I wouldn’t say that the network news covers stories in any more detail than the Daily Show does, as they both offer basically the same length and depth of information in their news coverage.
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