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clearing up my meaning above for art and others on that tangent: stewart has said in interviews (charlie rose, larry king, etc) whilst plugging the new book that they assume a high level of knowledge in current events and the nature of broadcast news in their viewers when they write the show. they don't expect people who don't watch the news to get the tounge in cheek lampooning of the style of broadcasting, or the content in the satire. the writers, who have also been on a few talk shows, have echoed this. this trend is also played out in the nieslen demographic research recently used by comedy central's PR department when they responded to bill o'reilly's calling the daily show viewers 'stoned slackers' by showing that they were in fact more educated and more aware of current events than the viewers of the o'reilly factor.
honestly, it makes sense, if you watch 24 hour news networks, you are more likely to be misinformed. the endless regurgitation of spin disguised as analysis drowns out what little fact based reporting there is. clearly the whole media has made a huge mistake in representing john kerry to the public, when just 90 minutes of air time talking issues in the first debate cause such a dramatic spike in his public perception ratings. instead of focusing on the issues, the 24hournets are focusing on the spin and the rest of the media suffers from the pack race and trickle down. that's all stewart was trying to say, and it is clear that many out there on both sides of the spin agree based upon how certain demographics are dropping out of those products and going to alternative information sources.
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if everyone is thinking alike, chances are no one is thinking.
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