Right after citing a fabulous dis of Headline News’ new “Headline Prime” lineup, Chris crystallizes my thoughts eloquently:

MyDD :: CNN Craters: The Daily Show deserves every last bit of legitimacy that it receives. A station like CNN will tell you the news, and then invite two talking heads from ‘either side’ to come on and offer you a rhetorical spin that guarantees you will not remember what the original story was about (I even barely remember what I was talking about on MSNBC, but I do remember that I enjoyed annoying Monica Crowley). By contrast, the Daily Show tells you the news, and then makes fun of it. Obviously, this breeds cynicism, but it also breeds knowledge, as the actual news is repeated, rather than mutated by spin, during the joke phase. It works too, as Daily Show viewer are far more aware of current events than regular viewers of any ‘legitimate’ news station or program. Its not even close, just like the rating gap between the Daily Show and any other cable news program.

Actually it all makes sense in George W. Orwell’s doublespeak. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Fake news is news, News news is fake…