By Staff
According to a study by Julia R. Fox, assistant professor of telecommunications at Indiana University, Comedy Central's fake news program "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," is as substantive as network coverage.
Fox analyzed coverage of the 2004 national political conventions and the first presidential debate to conclude that the show is a "legitimate source of news," like when Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf broke Twinkies and green tea with Stewart while promoting his book.
Not only is satire a powerful weapon, but the sound bites on network television are the basis for lengthier treatments that provide context when talking heads can be shown to be contradicting prior pronouncements.
The younger viewers with whom "The Daily Show" is popular are considered apathetic about politics and public affairs, but they have to be current to understand the jokes.
The cable news channels, which run the same stories over and over into the ground, frequently play clips from "The Daily Show" and its spinoff "The Colbert Report" to show they're hip enough to be spoofed.
There is even a movement afoot with T-shirts and bumper stickers to draft Stewart and Stephen Colbert as real candidates for a 2008 White House run.
Stewart said the promotional items "are a real sign of how sad people are" with the state of affairs in the country.
"Nothing says 'I am ashamed of you my government' more than 'Stewart/Colbert '08' " Stewart told an audience Oct. 8 at the New Yorker Festival. He was interviewed by the magazine's editor, David Remnick.
Top Bush administration officials are reluctant to appear on The Daily Show.
"We have requests in there to everyone, including Barney. Only Barney replies," Stewart said of the president's Scottish terrier.
Stewart scoffs at suggestions that some people actually get their news from The Daily Show.
"There's no way you could get the news from us," he said. "I've seen the show. It couldn't happen."
Quips, quotes and qulunkers: "If you pick up a good general newspaper, you read a lot of things you don't expect to read, much of which are important and make life interesting."
– Rupert Murdoch, 75, founder of Fox News, which recently marked its 10th anniversary on the air.
"Author Bob Woodward has now written a third book about the president and the war in Iraq. The first two books said Bush was firmly in command of a well-run team, but this book says there was a lot of confusion and bickering. Shouldn't we be able to get our money back on the first two books?"
– Jay Leno
"We're kind of looking at it like we're Lewis and Clark – we're playing the Wyomings and Montanas."
– Keith Richards on the Rolling Stones returning their "Bigger Bang" tour to the United States. With nearly a million tickets sold for total revenue of $256 million, it's on its way to becoming the highest-grossing concert tour of all time, according to the trade magazine Pollstar.
John Lennon's killer was denied parole a fourth time Oct. 10 – the day after what would have been the former Beatle's 66th birthday.
Putting the fun back in fundraising: A Connecticut company, ArtStamps (www.myartstamps.com), is putting children's drawings on real 39-cent stamps.
A sheet costs $20, of which $7.80 goes to the Postal Service, $3 goes to the school, which collects the artwork, orders and money.
The remaining $9.20 goes to the company, which says about $2 of that is profit.
The 300th million American will be born this month.
Wal-Mart breaks law: The world's biggest retailer must pay at least $78.5 million for violating Pennsylvania labor laws by forcing employees to work through rest breaks and off the clock, a jury decided Friday the 13th.
Jurors awarded the exact amount plaintiffs sought, rejecting Wal-Mart's claim that some employees chose to work through breaks and that the loss of a few minutes' pay here or there was not significant.
"It should send a message to corporate America that you can't say one thing and do another … and that you should put people ahead of profits," said plaintiffs' lawyer Michael Donovan.
The third governor's debate is being broadcast live tonight from WXYZ-TV in Detroit, an ABC affiliate. It's being made available live to all ABC and CBS affiliates in Michigan.
Unfortunately, Battle Creek's WOTV Channel 4 and WWMT Channel 3 instead of showing Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Republican challenger Dick DeVos plan to carry the reality show "Wife Swap" and the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother."
According to one poll, Granholm has padded her lead to nine points, 51 percent to 42 percent for DeVos.
Burleson, Texas, population 26,000 in suburban Fort Worth, is teaching teachers and students to fight back if a gunman invades their classrooms and to take him down.
"Getting under desks and praying for rescue from professionals is not a recipe for success," said Robin Browne, a major in the British Army reserve and an instructor for Response Options, the company providing the controversial training.
"Five or six seventh-grade kids and a 95-pound art teacher can basically challenge, bring down and immobilize a 200-pound man with a gun."
Burleson High Principal Paul Cash said he has received no complaints from parents.
Stacy Vaughn, president of the Parent-Teacher Organization at Norwood Elementary in Burleson, supports fight-back training.
Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, pleaded guilty Friday the 13th in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling investigation. Ney becomes the first lawmaker to confess to crimes in an election-year scandal. GOP leaders said Ney will be expelled from the House if he doesn't quit by the time they return to Washington after the Nov. 7 elections.
Ney acknowledged taking trips, tickets, meals and campaign donations in return for official actions on behalf of Abramoff's clients. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
Air America Radio, the liberal talk and news-radio network that features comedian Al Franken, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday the 13th. It will stay on the air while it reorganizes.
It lost $9.1 million in 2004, $19.6 million in 2005 and $13.1 million so far in 2006.
Franken is owed $360,750, according to court documents.