Poll: The Daily Show Effect: Is Jon Stewart Destroying America?

The May issue of American Politics Research features a study of Jon Stewart and the Daily Show's impact on the politcal attitudes of 18-24 year-olds. These ever-so-clever researchers got college students to sit down and watch 8 minutes of Daily Show clips and 8 minutes of CBS evening news. They tried to select clips with similar content -- it was coverage leading up to the 2004 election. They rated the respondants on questions such as "I often don’t trust what news organizations are saying” (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree, 4 = strongly agree)." It's an interesting study and for now you can download the PDF here.

You can read on for my own weird take on this study, but if you care about this issue at all, I hope you will voice your opinion at PenOpticon.Com by answering the poll question: Is Jon Stewart destroying America and making you more cynical?

I would not fault -- and am not qualified to fault -- their method or their math, but I think the authors have their own agenda -- they fear honest critique of the current political system. They seem to expect all of us to have unassailable faith in the American "hard news" media and the current two-party system. Here are a few choice quotes from the East Carolina University study:

We contend that the result for young viewers is a more cynical perspective of the news media’s ability to fairly and accurately cover politics.

Yes exactly! When Stewart exposes the fact that TV media sometimes runs news segments that are paid for and produced by the U.S. government, or how one party can insinuate a phrase or talking point as fact so that it is replicated and reported by every network, then we do become a tad cynical.

Our findings suggest that exposure to The Daily Show’s brand of political humor influenced young Americans by lowering support for both presidential candidates and increasing cynicism.

Stewart is on record as saying he is not against Republicans or Democrats but that he is "against bullshit". He calls 'em the way they present themselves and does it in a way that "hard news" sources can't seem to do.

Stewart’s style of humor paints the complexities of politics as a function of the absurdity and incompetence of political elites, thus leading viewers to blame any lack of understanding not on themselves but on those who run the system. In presenting politics as the theater of the absurd, Stewart seemingly simplifies it.

On the contrary, Stewart often bemoans the simplicity and lack of nuanced argument that is put forth by the Administration.

Anyhow, for me the BIG question about satire in general -- and TV satire in particular -- is whether it creates snarky, politically passive individuals who feel as if they have done something by consuming satire. Maybe that will be subject for a future poll. In the meantime, I hope you will cast your vote in this fun little poll:
Is Jon Stewart destroying America and making you more cynical?