I watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and, if you’re reading this column, you probably watch it too. This isn’t to say that we watch it for the same reasons or that we share similar political views.
Stewart’s message seems to penetrate the liberal-conservative divide. All you need is a little cultural literacy and — while you may not agree with the comedian turned political icon — you can sit through his show and have a few laughs, but that doesn’t mean he’s being objective, either.
Two years ago, NBC Nightly News anchor and a frequent guest of The Daily Show, Brian Williams, sat down for an interview with Stewart. After their usual display of raillery, the NBC anchor said something that has stuck with me ever since: “It must be nice Jon,” he joked, “to have a little liberal salon.” Williams was, of course, calling out The Daily Show for its lack of objectivity. It was fair game. After all, Stewart had spent years criticizing NBC and the rest of the mainstream media.
Williams was pointing out the obvious, though. It’s no secret that Stewart has liberal leanings or that — to understate the fact — Glenn Beck has conservative leanings, but the real question is whether Americans really prefer ‘news’ that is analyzed and packaged to fit a certain worldview? I sincerely hope not.
Two weeks ago, I spent my Thursday night at Cal State Long Beach’s Carpenter Center listening to Arianna Huffington speak about American mainstream media. It was a great speech, but she said something that struck me as odd.
“[The media’s job is] to ferret out the truth and not to split the truth between both sides,” she said. If you report on the Holocaust, she explained, you don’t quote a Holocaust denier.
It was as if she was advocating a leap toward subjective news.
The Holocaust is an extreme case, but what if she gave another example?
What if FOX news was reporting on climate change, wouldn’t you want them to “split the truth.” What if MSNBC was reporting on abortion? What if American media was reporting on Iran?
My point is facts are misleading and its not a journalist’s responsibility to “ferret out the truth” but to present it — without any opinion on what that truth is.
This brings us back to Stewart and his “liberal salon.” On Saturday, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report hosted “The Rally to Restore Sanity and The March to Keep Fear Alive” on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. While the joint-rally paled in comparison to The Daily Show’s traditional humor, it’s still relevant to our point.
Stewart reminds us almost every day on his Comedy Central program that he’s not objective. He represents a distinct worldview that can’t be labeled liberal or conservative. And that’s exactly why I watch his show.
Stewart is allowed to “ferret out” what he believes is the truth because he doesn’t claim to be a journalist, and we can follow him if we choose to.
This was at the heart of his rally Saturday. He seemingly told thousands to have an opinion, whatever that opinion might be.
But we have to remember — those of us who watch The Daily Show or Glenn Beck — that in order to have our own opinion, we can’t just watch these programs. And with objective media dwindling, it is our responsibility — more than ever — to “ferret out” the truth ourselves.
Zien Halwani is a junior biology and philosophy double major and the opinions editor for the Daily 49er.
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