Fox News Vs Comedy Central

As  it was a holiday weekend, we had more time than usual to catch up on shows we missed during the week. We have always been huge fans of Jon Stewart, and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show is one of the shows on our Hulu queue. For readers who may not know, The Daily Show is not a news program, it is a comedy show. We felt compelled to explain that because apparently it is unclear to the folks at Fox News. We can see why as may of their “reporters” are parodies of serious jounalists. Also, they often venture into comedy terroritory themselves when supposedly reporting the news.

In any case, there has been quite a back-and-forth between Jon Stewart and Chris Wallace ever since Jon appeared on Chris’ show a week ago. The whole thing started when Stewart had made a blanket statement regarding Fox’s viewing audience and their grasp of reality (we are paraphrasing here). Stewart used the term “every” when he probably should have used the term “most.” It was indicated to Stewart that, on occasion, Fox News viewers are not the most uninformed group, and that there are some people who are more clueless. We are guessing that Fox News reporters, commentators, and anchors were excluded from this grouping.

Anyway, the back-and-forth has now degenerated into all-out name-calling. It has been great fun to watch the spat getting some traction outside of the Fox New/Comedy Central circle: other news organizations are starting pick it up as a legitimate story.

Of all of the people Fox News decides to pick a fight with, they chose a comedian? Really? Does Fox News realize that The Daily Show is not a news program? Do they really need to declare open warfare with someone who makes a living by pointing out other people’s absurdities? Is Fox News unclear about the level of credibility they already have with the thinking public? Do they really need less? The only way Fox News can save any face is to formally declare that they really are a comedy network and that the joke has been on us all this time. Wait, they’re not a comedy network, right?