With the 2008 presidential election in full swing, I, like many of my collegiate peers, turn to Comedy Central to watch the news. Sure, you can see a talking turd on South Park if you tune in a minute or two early but really, you see the same on network news all day. That being said, Jon Stewart and his team at “The Daily Show,” make news far more digestible for a college audience than the other hip, young anchors like Lou Dobbs. They are consistently being extolled for their ability to call out bullshit as they see it and are creating a generation of cynics who are increasingly fed up with the political scene. “The Daily Show,” has earned its stripes, especially considering the amount of political speeches they have to watch to find the best clips. 
That being said.
This program is worshiped by college students who feel like they’re watching a show on Comedy Central and not the news, but influence is not going to step aside because of what channel the show’s on. It is clear to me that to figure out the truth, one must look at all 500 sides of the argument, and be equally receptive to them. Critics have accused Stewart of running a show with a distinct liberal bias. Though Stewart has been open about his more liberal views, he maintains that they don’t go soft on the left. Let’s take a look at “The Daily Show’s” coverage of the presidential candidates’ convention speeches, more specifically the spoof videos of the candidates’.
Obama’s video wasn’t up on Youtube and WordPress won’t embed flash videos that Comedy Central uses, so here’s the link.
Now here’s McCain’s:
These videos are very different and focus on two very different aspects of the candidates. Obama’s focuses on the fanatical response this politician gets from people (the Oprah part being especially ridiculous), while McCain’s focuses on his blatant hypocrisy since 2006. Both are very funny videos that were put together well, but Obama’s clearly goes easier on him.
So we have to ask ourselves why? It could very well be that it is just harder to dig up dirt on Obama. He has made fewer mistakes and has eaten his words fewer times than McCain but has been in the public eye just a fraction of the time. Is this a liberal bias? I would have to argue no, because it’s just satire that focuses on the predominant absurdity of Obama supporters and the predominant absurdity of McCain’s hypocrisy. That being said, this should call for conservatives to use satire to get their point across too. My politics usually agree with Stewart’s but there needs to be a more conservative Daily Show for fair, satirical coverage of candidates. If my age group is going to use this program for their news, then they need to make sure they’re getting the full story.
