Jon Stewart on the O'Reilly Factor

Jon Stewart ventures into enemy territory to take Bill O'Reilly to school in a surprisingly civil interview. Take a look.

Best Study Ever

The Project for Excellence in Journalism has released a new study entitled "Journalism, Satire or Just Laughs: 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' Examined". It's a fascinating read (complete with clips of the show!), but here are some highlights:

• In a 2007 poll, Americans chose Jon Stewart as one of their most trusted journalists, tying for 4th with Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams and Anderson Cooper and beating out Matt Lauer, Ted Koppel and Barbara Walters.
• Stewart makes fun of Republicans/conservatives more than Democrats/liberals, but the study did not conclude whether this was because the Daily Show was liberal or anti-establishment. (Hopefully, they can find out in 2009!)
• "In its subject matter, The Daily Show is indeed journalistic. Its topic agenda is highly focused on the public square, on issues of significance, particularly those focused around Washington. Its agenda is not dissimilar, indeed, from other cable talk shows." I'm taking this to mean that Jon Stewart is as much of a responsible journalist as anyone on cable news or talk radio. I think this says less about the quality of the Daily Show than it does about the lack of quality in cable news and talk radio.

I like the circularity involved in including this clip from last night: