Jon Stewart is famous for his legendary take-downs of Fox News, but in an interview with Rolling Stone, he says The Daily Show and Fox are not so different from one another.
“We’re both expressions of dissatisfaction,” Stewart said. “[Roger Ailes’], I think, happens to be a slightly more powerful version. … Ailes was a strategist for Nixon. He comes from the seat of power, and he understands how important the narrative is. We come from comedy, so our natural instinct is not to understand that, and to be bratty. That goes a long way towards explaining the difference between the two organizations.”
Stewart’s show doesn’t only focus on Fox’s journalistic sensationalism: CNN and MSNBC are common targets, too. And the cable networks’ 24-hour news cycle does little to help inform Americans, Stewart said.
“[The 24-hour networks] are now the absolute most powerful force driving the political narrative,” he said. “And the picture that they create is one of conflict, because they’re on for 24 hours a day, so they have to create a compelling reason for you to watch them. Otherwise, they’re just Muzak – newzak.”
Read the interview teaser here. The interview appears in the latest issue of Rolling Stone and will be available on newsstands Friday.
