I Think I'm In the Wrong Room

92y:

Jon Stewart in Conversation with Terry Gross, Host of NPR’s Fresh Air
Stewart cracks wise on 92nd Street Y, explains The Million Moderate March and discusses at length on why The Daily Show is not journalism.

“…the march is merely a construct. It’s just a format…” Stewart allowed, “to translate the type of expression that we do…it’s a format to be filled with the type of material that Stephen and I do and the point of view.”

The conversation continued with discussion about what it is that Jon Stewart and crew do on The Daily Show. According to Stewart, the work they do is all about using their instincts, making connections between news stories and then looking into it. Terry described it as journalism. “Nah, I don’t think so,” Stewart disagreed, “I think it’s called Googling.” Either way, Terry expressed surprise at the information she discovers on The Daily Show: “I often feel like, how come I had to find out about [an issue] on your show, a comedy show?!” “That’s funny,” Steward deadpanned, “because we often feel that way as well.”

It’s an interesting perception, and one that Gawker’s Nick Denton, would probably agree with. In a recent interview, Denton was asked if what he does is journalism. “I don’t consider that to be a very interesting question,” he responded, visibly irritated. “Most good journalism is produced by people who don’t care about producing good journalism.”