BD points to a rather snarky editorial in the Rocky Mountain News about the (gasp) evil threat that The Daily Show poses to the Body Politic.

A number of prominent commentators have lionized Daily Show host Jon Stewart’s cynical attitudes toward politics and civic culture. But maybe his relentless negativity isn’t that healthy for democracy after all.

Because, of course, cynicism and negativity are double-plus ungood ways of thinking.

And what’s “civic culture,” anyway?

A recent study by East Carolina University political scientists Jody Baumgartner and Jonathan Morris found that college students who watched campaign coverage on The Daily Show but not from traditional outlets not only held negative views of candidates but also lost faith in the electoral system and found mainstream media unreliable.

While not quite putting it in as strenuous terms as BD (as is each our wont), candidates and the electoral system and mainstream media need to earn respect. If they each do a good job, than satirical fun-poking will have little effect beyond a chuckle (or even a puzzled blink). As they stand, each of them allow plenty of room for criticism and satire. And, for what it’s worth, for all recorded history.

I would not necessarily recommend folks only get their news from The Daily Show, mind you. I suspect Jon Stewart wouldn’t, either. But one must wonder whether, lacking TDS, those same students would be taking in any sort of campaign coverage. And would that be a better outcome?

Well, some might think so.

Also, regular Daily Show viewers thought they understood politics better than their peers who don’t watch.

And ninety percent of parents think their kids are above average. And most folks think they know stuff better than other people. So?

The authors point out that the program poses divisive political issues in simplistic terms, and treats public officials as buffoons – not exactly healthy ways for a rising generation to view complex policy debates.

The difference being that the mainstream media doesn’t treat public officials as buffoons, which probalby does its own disservice to the community. Simplistic treatment of divisive political issues, though? Heck, most TDS segments are a lot longer than anything on the CBS Nightly News, let alone blip-news like KNX News Radio (“You give us three short sentences — we’ll give you the world!”), and the issues are handled in at least as balanced a basis as 90% of the pundit shows. Heck, TDS earns points for being willing to poke fun at folks anywhere in the political spectrum, which most ideologue pundits are not (“If I criticize my fellow-travellers, it gives comfort to my enemies!”).

The Daily Show is entertainment. That’s what it’s meant to be. That’s what it labels itself as. I’d much rather watch it than listen to pundits shout at each other or news drones natter on pointlessly. I’d worry a lot more if that were my only source of information, but the lack of appeal from the mainstream media and punditry, or the lack of interest that “young folks” have in further pursuing more information on candidates and political issues (if true) shouldn’t be considered the fault of TDS or Jon Stewart.