Increasingly young people are tuning into the news. But they’re not watching CNN; no they’re getting their information from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The reason this is strange is because The Daily Show is actually a late night talk show carried by the Comedy Network. The presentation is in a news format including headlines, reports, correspondents and interviews with special guests. And it’s hilarious. Full of biting satire and ironic commentary on politics and world events, The Daily Show, is the perfect format to reach young people with the news.

When so many young people are disillusioned with the traditional news media which often presents a bland and homogeneous package, The Daily Show is a breath of fresh air. Often the news media itself is the target. For example, CNN commentator Wolf Blitzer was recently a guest on the show. In his light-hearted and funny way, Jon Stewart grilled Blitzer about the media’s failure to ask the tough questions during the build-up to the invasion of Iraq. In another episode, when Stewart asked one of the show’s mock field reporters for his opinion, he responded, “I’m a reporter, Jon; I don’t have an ‘opinion’. My job is to spend half the time repeating what one side has to say and half the time repeating what the other side has to say.”

The list of guests on the show has also been quite impressive. Tonight archbishop Desmond Tutu made an appearance. The first question Stewart asked the respected religious leader was how Americans are viewed abroad. Tutu responded that Americans are seen as generous and kind people but that they were troubled with what the country has been doing lately. He said that the United States should “export compassion, not bombs.”

It’s the combination of humour and relevance to current issues that has gotten me hooked on the Daily Show. If you want to see how young people today are getting their news, check it out.