Yesterday I watched Eyewitness News at 6:00 on ABC, and then the Daily Show at 11:00 on Comedy Central so that I could compare how both programs covered the same news stories. On this particular day there were two key top stories that each show discussed, both of which I have already talked about in previous posts. These were the hysteria over the outbreak of the Swine Flu and the botched photo-op that resulted in an Air-Force One look-alike flying over Lower Manhattan and terrifying its people. I thought that both programs did an excellent job of covering all of the key points from each story, although there were some key differences in the way each presented the material. The most obvious difference between these two programs is that the Daily Show not only gives a general overview of each story, but it also adds a comedic touch to it as seen here:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Mistakes on a Plane | ||||
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Besides this, the other main difference between the shows is that while the Daily Show generally picks two or three main stories and spends the entire show talking about them, Eyewitness News starts the program with the major issues and then continues on with a bunch of minor stories (usually upsetting things such as murder or other crimes). Overall, I would say that both programs do about an equal job on informing the viewer about the major stories of the day. However, Eyewitness News does a much better job of informing the viewer on the smaller, more local stories. All things considered though, I would not recommend either as a primary source of news. Simply put, too much happens every day for everything to be condensed into a half an hour show (fifteen minutes in the case of the Daily Show if you account for the daily interview). Although either of these options is a good way to get a quick burst of information, they should only be treated as news supplements. I would encourage people to look elsewhere such as an online newspaper or a 24-hour news network for their main diet of daily news.
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