"The Most Important News Show... Ever"

Last year, Nielsen Media Research pointed out that viewers of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" are better educated than those of "The O'Reilly Factor," not that that's saying much. (Check out sweetjesusihatebilloreilly.com for an archive of the article).

Some people describe Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" as the only television news source they can trust. I'll take it a step further and admit that it is the only television news source that I can stomach, because frankly it only takes a few minutes of CNN or Fox News to make me nauseated. Besides being funny and entertaining, Jon Stewart often seems like the only person on TV willing to discuss real issues who isn't completely full of shit.

Unfortunately "The Daily Show" only has a half hour a night, four nights a week, to edify the masses, which means the 24-hour news networks are able to provide marginally more news coverage in the course of a year. (I say "marginally" because these news channels waste an inordinate amount of time on topics like Michael Jackson, Terry Schiavo, baseball players who use steroids, and some white girl missing in Aruba, instead of cluing Americans in on what's actually going on in the world).

So if you're looking for more in-depth coverage than "The Daily Show" has time to provide, you must of course turn to the internet, and a good place to start is Footnote TV. As its name implies, this website provides footnotes for episodes of "The Daily Show" (and some other programs), a handy reference if you want to do some research on any of the topics mentioned by Jon Stewart, his co-stars, or guests.

TV Squad is useful for recaps of "The Daily Show," while America (The Book) is like having "The Daily Show" in hardcover.

See also: SHAFT NewsWire coverage of Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly.