The Daily Show is a television program that uses "fake" news stories and real guest interviews to mock the substance and form of traditional television news programs. A content analysis examined the news stories and interviews in 52 episodes of The Daily Show from early 2005. Of the 222 news stories in these episodes, more than half addressed political topics; a fourth did so using issue frames. Almost half of the stories addressed world affairs. A smaller-but nonetheless substantialpercentage

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... ddressed the news media. Many of the 52 interviews also addressed politics, world affairs, and the news media. These findings, taken in conjunction with findings regarding the effects of "soft news" media, suggest that The Daily Show may have the potential to educate viewers about politics (including policy issues), draw their attention to events in world affairs, and encourage them to think critically-or perhaps cynically-about traditional news. Although its host refers to it as a "fake news program," one could more accurately call The Daily Show with Jon Stewart a mock news program. The show, which runs four nights a week on the Comedy Central cable network, typically begins with humorous news stories and concludes with Stewart interviewing a guest. It satirizes both the substance and the form of traditional news stories. For example, it covered the 2000 presidential election campaign under the banner of "Indecision 2000" (a curiously prophetic name) and presented its coverage of the war in Iraq as "Mess-O-Potamia." The program's creators, including its host, express skepticism about the notion that it might serve as a news source or influence politics. Indeed, Stewart has claimed that it would be absurd to study the program in a serious manner, arguing that his show "is comedy, not even pretending to be information: : : : We're not breaking any news. We're a very reactive business" (Milibank, 2000, p. C1).