Again with the news genre...

The University of Indiana aren't the only ones raggin' on the news genre (they claim The Daily Show belongs in that catagory - look at my last posting for more information).

An article in the Oct. 8 Chicago Sun-Times agrees. Doug Elfman's story "What do you do when the news is a joke?" compares The Daily Show to late night shows such as David Letterman and Jay Leno.

"I would claim that in ways, "The Daily Show" is also
theoretically as balanced as network news [...] There's still some value there,
in addition to monologue jokes. David Letterman was the only person on TV,
journalist or not, who grilled George Bush on the subject of oil drilling in
Alaska for any length of time during the 2000 elections.

"But Letterman and Jay Leno and the rest of the network
comics have clung to olden variety-talk show formats, while Stewart has
turned "The Daily Show" -- now celebrating its 10th year -- into the strangest and most effective of evening-news/"Saturday Night
Live" hybrids. It's got civics lessons, political passion and
truthiness, all bundled in a mockery that Reynolds and others earn through
idiocy." - Elfman

In order for The Daily Show to be raised to the level of news genre, is the genre itself lowering its standards? While making no reference to The Daily Show, PBS columnist Michael Getler appears to think that maybe it has.

"I am a big fan of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
[...] I think it is the best news program on television. Whatever its
flaws, viewers are vastly better off, meaning better informed as citizens,
having this program in its current form than not having it, in my independent
opinion. I find its news summary more comprehensive than commercial news
broadcasts, and its individual segments almost always enlightening in some
fashion [...]

"As a viewer and journalist, I find the program
occasionally frustrating; sometimes too polite, too balanced when issues are not
really balanced, and too many political and emotion-laden statements pass
without factual challenges from the interviewer." - Getler

Going back to what Elfman said about how Letterman "grilled" Bush about Alaska's oil and was the only person to do so, perhaps Getler has a valid point.

If news journalists don't get the job done and comedians step up to the plate, do they earn their way into being classified within the news genre?