Look how far the Daily Show has Come

I would be interested to see what Manjoo's take on the Daily Show and the Colbert Report now days. I think there was a major shift in John Stewarts mind after he was found to be the most trusted person in news. Both programs occupy fascinating niches in the American news media because even though they are entertainment, they have more actual news people working for them. John Stewart has complete creative control over his show and he has used it to build the most popular show on Comedy Central. This has given him an astronomical budget because is CC really going to piss off its golden child? Of course not. His news team actually does more in depth research and fact checking than traditional news outlets. He also calls people on their bs, something that traditional news outlets are afraid to do because they fear some people will call them biased. If a major republican front runner came out and started talking about how vaccines cause autism major news outlets would present both sides of the story when one side is flat out wrong. John Stewart on the other hand would just say that they're crazy and they shouldn't be taken seriously instead of trying to pander to people who will take issue with what he says anyway.