Americans Watch Daily Show, Colbert & Newspaper sites

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Pew Survey Finds Most Knowledgeable Americans Watch 'Daily Show' and 'Colbert'-- and Visit Newspaper Sites
By E&P Staff
Published: April 15, 2007

A new survey of 1,502 adults released Sunday by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that despite the mass appeal of the Internet and cable news since a previous poll in 1989, Americans' knowledge of national affairs has slipped a little. For example, only 69% know that Dick Cheney is vice president, while 74% could identify Dan Quayle in that post in 1989.

Other details are equally eye-opening. Pew judged the levels of knowledgeability (correct answers) among those surveyed and found that those who scored the highest were regular watchers of Comedy Central's The Daily Show and Colbert Report. They tied with regular readers of major newspapers in the top spot -- with 54% of them getting 2 out of 3 questions correct. Watchers of the Lehrer News Hour on PBS followed just behind.

Virtually bringing up the rear were regular watchers of Fox News. Only 1 in 3 could answer 2 out of 3 questions correctly. Fox topped only network morning show viewers.

Told that Shia was one group of Muslims struggling in Iraq, only 32% of the total sample could name "Sunni" as the other key group.

The percentage of those who knew their state's governor dropped to 2 in 3. Almost half know that Rep. Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House and 2 in 3 know that Condi Rice is secretary of state. But just 29% can identify Scooter Libby, 21% know Robert Gates and 15% can name Sen. Harry Reid.

But nearly 9 in 10 knew about President Bush's troop escalation in Iraq.

Men scored higher than women, and older Americans did better than younger, on average. Democrats and Republicans were about equally represented in the most knowledgeable group but there were more Republicans in the least aware group.

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=319

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My 14 year old watches The Daily Show and THe Colbert Report religiously, and I'll bet he knows more about what's going on in the world than any of his classmates.
Contrary to some opinions, these two shows do not report FAKE news.
They report the actual news and at the same time expose the ironies in our political system and the backpedaling that politicians do. I think The Daily Show is the most truthful news show on television, bar none.

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happycat wrote:

My 14 year old watches The Daily Show and THe Colbert Report religiously, and I'll bet he knows more about what's going on in the world than any of his classmates.
Contrary to some opinions, these two shows do not report FAKE news.
They report the actual news and at the same time expose the ironies in our political system and the backpedaling that politicians do. I think The Daily Show is the most truthful news show on television, bar none.

That would probably make Jon Stewart cry.

It is a fake news show. It's about entertainment and satire and should not be considered a serious news source.

The people at "The Daily Show" ridicule the idea of people looking to their show as a primary news source.

"A lot of them are probably high," Stewart cracked. "I'm not sure, coming off of robots fighting and into our show, what we're dealing with out there."

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happycat wrote:

My 14 year old watches The Daily Show and THe Colbert Report religiously, and I'll bet he knows more about what's going on in the world than any of his classmates.
Contrary to some opinions, these two shows do not report FAKE news.
They report the actual news and at the same time expose the ironies in our political system and the backpedaling that politicians do. I think The Daily Show is the most truthful news show on television, bar none.

Both shows are great. Watching these shows could only help the public.

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McGentrix wrote:

happycat wrote:
My 14 year old watches The Daily Show and THe Colbert Report religiously, and I'll bet he knows more about what's going on in the world than any of his classmates.
Contrary to some opinions, these two shows do not report FAKE news.
They report the actual news and at the same time expose the ironies in our political system and the backpedaling that politicians do. I think The Daily Show is the most truthful news show on television, bar none.

That would probably make Jon Stewart cry.

It is a fake news show. It's about entertainment and satire and should not be considered a serious news source.

The people at "The Daily Show" ridicule the idea of people looking to their show as a primary news source.

"A lot of them are probably high," Stewart cracked. "I'm not sure, coming off of robots fighting and into our show, what we're dealing with out there."

And yet, the viewers consistently are better informed than viewers of other news sources. The Daily show/CR do not report 'fake news.' They report things which actually happen, and then make fun of them. But they don't make events up.

Take a gander:

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/pewtv.GIF

What's that down there at the bottom? Hmm? That's right, Fox News viewers, consistently the least knowledgeable and least well informed. They are a fake news channel.

Cycloptichorn

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O'Reily Factor is on the Fox News Network. If they watch O'reily, they watch Fox News.

That tells me your graph is useless and proves absolutely nothing.

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McGentrix wrote:

O'Reily Factor is on the Fox News Network. If they watch O'reily, they watch Fox News.

That tells me your graph is useless and proves absolutely nothing.

The graph is from the original study cited in the first post.

It is telling that they differentiated between O'reilly viewers and Fox News viewers. Defenders of the FNC are always quick to point out the difference(punditry vs. news), yet you deny it when it suits your cause.

I don't really give a fig what the graph 'tells you,' as you have been wrong about a plethora of issues for quite some time now, and aren't a good source of an opinion on anything, frankly.

Cycloptichorn

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FAKE
adjective:
Having a false or misleading appearance; fraudulent.

noun:
One that is not authentic or genuine; a sham.

McGentrix - Please cite one example of a fake news story on either The Daily Show or the Colbert Report.

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Try here.

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BS, that's just a link to their site. IN fact, much of the 'recent news' concerns Abu Gonzales, the Imus scandal, Iraq - real news events, with a funny spin put on them.

You're all wet, and you know it.

Cycloptichorn

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McGentrix wrote:

Try here.

yes, that's their website.
go on.....
?

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McG is correct in that the two shows have "fake news" items on each night. Obviously fake, of course. And Colbert's schtick is to be a fake O'Reilly character, challenging guests from a viewpoint which is definitely not his own.

He's also partially correct as regards another aspect, in that Stewart has said that his show is a comedy show and not a news program. BUT Stewart voiced that (in the one instance I know of - on Crossfire) as an indictment of the serious failings of such shows as Crossfire.

Still, McG ends up arguing a case which is really less true than it is false in the same manner as if someone was to argue that Animal Farm or Gulliver's Travels are not political while Horwitz's books are. And it certainly wouldn't be the case that readers of Horowitz end up being well educated while readers of Orwell do not.

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Keep in mind that there's probably a good deal of overlap between those categories. It's hard to find Colbert consistently funny unless you're at least up on the events of the day; it's not that he's particularly informative, but his audience is pretty self-selective in the sense that people who don't know anything about politics are a lot less likely to watch. (Then again, I hardly even watch 'im, though he's funny when I do.)

Actually examining the statistics is interesting, though. You're about as well-informed (on average) from Rush as NPR as Colbert as the Chronicle as the NYT. CNN is a bit more informative than Fox, which is right on the national average...

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ADV

Avatar ADV wrote:

Keep in mind that there's probably a good deal of overlap between those categories. It's hard to find Colbert consistently funny unless you're at least up on the events of the day; it's not that he's particularly informative, but his audience is pretty self-selective in the sense that people who don't know anything about politics are a lot less likely to watch. (Then again, I hardly even watch 'im, though he's funny when I do.)

Actually examining the statistics is interesting, though. You're about as well-informed (on average) from Rush as NPR as Colbert as the Chronicle as the NYT. CNN is a bit more informative than Fox, which is right on the national average...

Sadly, CNN is losing my respect daily as it slides into happy-talk talking heads and tabloid taint. CNN has rid itself of most of it's serious, competent journalists. MSNBC is only a little better because of Keith Olbermann.

My favorite TV sites are C-SPAN, especially weekends with books authors and panel discussions and PBS. I also like the History channel. I watch a few, well-written network drama shows but largely ignore everything else.

BBB

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Avatar ADV wrote:

Keep in mind that there's probably a good deal of overlap between those categories. It's hard to find Colbert consistently funny unless you're at least up on the events of the day; it's not that he's particularly informative, but his audience is pretty self-selective in the sense that people who don't know anything about politics are a lot less likely to watch. (Then again, I hardly even watch 'im, though he's funny when I do.)

Actually examining the statistics is interesting, though. You're about as well-informed (on average) from Rush as NPR as Colbert as the Chronicle as the NYT. CNN is a bit more informative than Fox, which is right on the national average...

To the first paragraph, I'm aligned with your notions. The one thing I will add is the range and quality of guests invited to either show is unique and more than a little laudatory.

Re the second paragraph, there's a much more thorough study available but I don't have a link noted on this machine. I'll forward it when I get home.

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Avatar ADV wrote:

Keep in mind that there's probably a good deal of overlap between those categories. It's hard to find Colbert consistently funny unless you're at least up on the events of the day; it's not that he's particularly informative, but his audience is pretty self-selective in the sense that people who don't know anything about politics are a lot less likely to watch. (Then again, I hardly even watch 'im, though he's funny when I do.)

Actually examining the statistics is interesting, though. You're about as well-informed (on average) from Rush as NPR as Colbert as the Chronicle as the NYT. CNN is a bit more informative than Fox, which is right on the national average...

Remember that it's "daily show-colbert.' The Daily Show provides quite a bit of actual news content in the beginning of the show, followed by a humorous piece, then followed by an interview - many of which involve politicians and other high officials talking about the news of the day.

After 9/11, the Daily Show did a great job bringing on people to calm Americans down....

Cycloptichorn

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Re: ADV

BumbleBeeBoogie wrote:

Avatar ADV wrote:
Keep in mind that there's probably a good deal of overlap between those categories. It's hard to find Colbert consistently funny unless you're at least up on the events of the day; it's not that he's particularly informative, but his audience is pretty self-selective in the sense that people who don't know anything about politics are a lot less likely to watch. (Then again, I hardly even watch 'im, though he's funny when I do.)

Actually examining the statistics is interesting, though. You're about as well-informed (on average) from Rush as NPR as Colbert as the Chronicle as the NYT. CNN is a bit more informative than Fox, which is right on the national average...

Sadly, CNN is losing my respect daily as it slides into happy-talk talking heads and tabloid taint. CNN has rid itself of most of it's serious, competent journalists. MSNBC is only a little better because of Keith Olbermann.

My favorite TV sites are C-SPAN, especially weekends with books authors and panel discussions and PBS. I also like the History channel. I watch a few, well-written network drama shows but largely ignore everything else.

BBB

C span is a treasure, but it is clearly for the advanced junky. PBS is no less a treasure though more "accessible". I began hating John Yoo long before his arrival on the scene as co-author or the 'torture memo' thanks to the Newshour.

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