PressEthic

On the front page of the Media Research Center, a site dedicated to pointing out liberal media bias, one of the top items involves liberal bias seen on 'The Daily Show.' This news item is mixed in with other "stories," such as a claim that CBS is favoring Democrats, and that a 'Newsweek' reporter openly attacked Dick Cheney in an article.

So why is something that happened on 'The Daily Show' in this group? This is a show, after all, that airs on Comedy Central, not exactly home base for fair and balanced news.

Another link on the MRC, which is filed under "Hear & See the Bias," is a transcript of the Jon Stewart monologue in question, including a video link to the actual segment. In it, Stewart levels a rather harsh barrage of insults towards CNN's Robert Novak, in response to a C-SPAN segment in which Novak described Stewart as a "self-righteous comedian."

During the approximately four minute segment, Stewart calls Novak a "demon vampire," a "terrible person," and finally, "an enemy of American democracy."

Novak is the same conservative columnist who was unceremoniously "awarded" (the award is not flattering) on 'The Daily Show' for an answer he gave on CNN seemingly contradicting himself. You can see that clip here.

Sure, 'The Daily Show' is clearly liberally biased, but does it deserve the same amount of scrutiny as true news media? A look at the top stories on the Media Research Center homepage seems to imply that conservative media watchdogs think so.

But if Novak, a CNN columnist and commentator, even says, "I’ve never seen [The Daily Show] in my life and I will go to my grave never having seen it," then why does MRC feel the need to cover it?