Romenesko

Jena, Germany: I was wondering if you could comment on the impact of Jon Stewart's Daily Show and the Colbert Report to journalists. In my opinion, The Daily Show and more recently the Colbert Report have started substantively "out perform" real journalists on holding guests to actual facts It seems on the cable networks, guest have a carte blanche in respective to their "truthiness", yet on Comedy Central, I feel, both shows offer a higher degree of veracity to the facts and intellectual honesty. Is it just me?
Howard Kurtz: No, you've got plenty of company. Of course, these shows have the freedom to make stuff up, be insulting, put fake reporters in front of green screens and pretend they're in Iraq, etc. But they certainly do a great job of nailing hypocrisy in ways that much of the MSM doesn't even attempt.