Jon Stewart is the Roger Ebert of the News

Jon Stewart can’t help it – he’s funny. Just like Milli Vanilli couldn’t help it - they couldn’t sing. And just like Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper can’t help it – they love to watch movies.

In this day and age where there are tons of movies premiering each week, the casual movie go-er needs to know which ones are worth the price of admission.

A lot of people listen to what Roger Ebert has to say and turn to him for movie guidance, oftentimes trusting his judgment more than their own.

Why is this?

Simply put, Roger Ebert knows what makes a good movie.

Granted he’s an esteemed movie critic, why do we trust his evaluation of romantic movies when, from what I’ve seen, his romantic side falls way of the Terminator compared to Shakespeare. Better yet, why do we trust him to critique comedies when he appears more Pacino than Stiller?

His expertise in movie criticizing and his longevity in the business screams reliability. Even though he’s probably not the first person you’ll go to for romantic advice or the first person you’ll want to see do stand-up, he is the first person you’ll go to for movie advice.

Jon Stewart is the Roger Ebert of the news.

Jon Stewart has appeared alongside Adam Sandler in Big Daddy and Robin Williams in Man of the Year. However, Stewart may be most known for his comedic news show on Comedy Central – Not CNN. Not NBC. Not CBS. Comedy Central.

Though many of the shows on Comedy Central have little relevance to politics and current events, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart offers viewers a light-hearted spin on the news. Yet, no matter how much news he covers, he’ll never be considered a “news” anchor.

Consider Jon Stewart more of a Rodney Dangerfield than a Tom Brokaw – he don’t get no respect.

Many traditional news anchors look down on Stewart’s show as they see little or no worth in his comedy show about politics and news. However, it’s this comedy show about politics and news that is starting to grab more and more public interest. Teenagers in the 21^st century are starting to turn more towards The Daily Show to get their political insight. Accredit this to Jon Stewart’s sense of humor and teenager’s willingness to pay attention to something humorous.

His show is conducted in a loose, more open style opposed to the Q & A style that most major news stations use. I believe this style is more effective because many of the questions he asks allow us to catch a glimpse the person beyond their celebrity/politician façade.

It is because of his rising popularity and connection with the younger generation, that he not only has a right but a responsibility to critique the work of his fellow news anchors.

Yet, many news anchors disregard his criticism.

Why?

Well, a lot of Republicans and traditionalists see his show as a mockery of the news – nothing but a comedy show. These news purists use his constant political comedic references as a reason to disregard the show as a whole. They see more traditional shows like Hardball and Crossfire as the benchmarks for high-quality news reporting.

Critics see Jon Stewart as nothing but a comedian and consider his criticism useless and, for lack of a better word, laughable. However, like is the case for Roger Ebert, just because Jon Stewart is a comedian doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be taken seriously. It is silly to say a comedian has no say in anything outside his stand-up routine; no relevance to today’s politics. I think, a comedian is an ideal person to offer constructive criticism since they spend their whole careers appealing to people, spending years figuring out what works and what doesn’t. So when Jon Stewart criticizes his fellow colleagues they should not only listen, they should be taking notes.

As a matter of fact, Jon Stewart’s recent criticism of mainstream news media should not only be acknowledged, it should be applauded.

Turn the channel to one of the many news stations any day and you’ll probably hear stories of destruction, violence, crime and discouragement 85% of the time. Unfortunate, Yes. Surprising, No.

Luckily, Jon Stewart was born with the ability to make people laugh when a simple laugh is needed – especially when it’s involving day-to-day news. So is it right for other reporters to disregard his opinion just based on his comedic angle?

I say no.

Is it right for a news reporter/comedian like Jon Stewart to criticize others within his own profession?

I say it’s not only right, it’s necessary.

These days, more and more young people are turning to The Daily Show to get their daily dose of the news and are receiving more than just the facts and figures. In this case, the worst disservice Jon Stewart could do is keep his mouth shut.

And that would be no laughing matter.