Is Jon Stewart helping or hurting America?
This is bad news for Jon Stewart fans like us. A paper published by American Politics Research, "The Daily Show Effect: Candidate Evaluations, Efficacy, and American Youth," says that college students who watch The Daily Show are more cynical than others toward the news media and the electoral process in general.
Study co-author Jonathan Morris says, "We are not saying The Daily Show is bad for democracy. We're just pointing out that exposure to this show among young adults is associated with cynicism toward political candidates and the political process as a whole."
So the argument is:
A) Watching The Daily Show increases cynicism.
B) Increased cynicism is linked to decreased political participation.
Therefore, watching The Daily Show leads to decreased political participation. Which means that Jon Stewart is, ironically* and unfortunately, hurting America.
Read more at: http://www.tompaine.com/uncommonsense/index.php#8463
*In 2004, Stewart himself accused the former hosts of CNN's Crossfire, Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson, of "hurting America."
posted by Editor at Large at 9:08 AM
2 Comments:
I'm so glad they cleared that up. Here I thought it was corrupt politicians that was making me cynical and they fact that every vote is suppose to count but every vote was not counted. Funny thing is, I don't watch the John Stewart show and I'm still cynical. Damn!!
J
If it weren't for Jon Stewart, half the people who watch the Daily show wouldn't even know the name Condi Rice. While he may add a cynical spin to our pathetic, sad state of political affairs, our politicians bring on the cynicism in a larger scale, international way, that spans all age groups.
Post a Comment
<< Home