It’s official. After the death of the world’s most famous newsman last month, Walter Cronkite, the heir apparent has been anointed. Drum roll, please. ‘The most trusted name in news’ is now, err, Jon Stewart. Jon Stewart?
Yes, The Daily Show host. A comedian.
At least, that’s the result of a Time Magazine poll, which surveyed 9000 people. 44 per cent said the faux journalist was their most trusted newscaster now that Cronkite has passed on.
He handily beat his competition, the ‘big three’ anchors of the nightly news bulletins: NBC’s Brian Williams drew the second largest percentage of votes, with 29 per cent, before Charlie Gibson (ABC) and Katie Couric (CBS), who finished third and fourth respectively, with 19 and 7 percent.
Of course an unscientific and online poll with such a small sample size can’t be given too much credibility.
Plus, there would be an element of the pool that confused ‘most trusted’ with ‘funniest’. Or at least, that it what any hard-nosed journalist would hope.
But what does this result say about the state of journalism?
Well, it speaks volumes about the way the American people view their major networks and news departments. That they would take the word of a comedian more seriously than those aforementioned; high-profile news anchors who command, on average, annual salaries of $US11m.
Few observers would doubt Stewart is more gifted at delivering the pulse of a nation than anyone else on TV. It is a kind-of hero-worship, together with the emergence of pop journalism, which should deliver Network Ten executives hope that their investment in The 7pm Project will, ultimately, build a large audience.
People will turn to an alternate source, even if it gives them a smidgen of the truth, provided it is mixed with comedy to deliver the ultimate fix of entertainment. Or newstainment.
Ten just needs to find the balance between how much real to put into the “fake-news”? The answer lies somewhere between, one, real enough to deliver top ratings and, two, real enough to keep it real.
But will Dave Hughes become the most trusted man in Australian news? Unlikely. Yet as Jon Stewart discovered, anything is possible.
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@ToryShepherd I hope that's in your piece tomorrow. Also - are you coming over this week or laaaaaater?
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