After Bill O’Reilly (jokingly) referred to The Daily Show’s audience as “stoned slackers”, it would seem in actuality that O’Reilly’s audience is less-educated than the audience of The Daily Show.

I know a college education isn’t everything, but that certain refutes O’Reilly’s joking statement. It’s funny — I was watching “Fox & Friends” for a bit at the gym on Monday, as ESPN’s Sportcenter was showing football (yawn) highlights, and they interviewed Ed Schultz, a liberal talk-radio host, who used to be a conservative. He’s got a book out now, so he’s making the media rounds. They get to talking to him about his book, and quickly after a softball question or two, question him about a section in the book where he talks about his dislike of the Fox News Channel. I can’t find a transcript of that broadcast, so I’ll attempt to paraphrase… (click Read full story below)

Update: Check out this link ‘Daily Show’ viewers ace political quiz, and this quote.

“Daily Show” viewers are 78 percent more likely than the average adult to have four or more years of college education, while O’Reilly’s audience is only 24 percent more likely to have that much schooling.

Plus, the network noted, “Daily Show” viewers are 26 percent more likely to have a household income more than $100,000, while O’Reilly’s audience is only 11 percent more likely to make that much money.

So the guy watching Stewart may not only be smart, but may also be rich.

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“Well, I don’t hate anyone, but you guys have an overwhelming number of conservative/Republic leaning commentators or this network, and you portray yourself as ‘Fair & Balanced’, so what gives?”. Steve Doocy (the co-host) retorts: “Well, you are on the show now, hawking your own book! Why are you here?”. Schultz replies: “You invited me here.” Later, Schultz is speaking to how well Fox News has done in capturing market share, and keep people coming back. Part of which, he believes, is due to Fox News’ portrayal of itself as “Fair and Balanced” and yet having a slate of nearly all conservatives as hosts and commentators, thereby duping the general viewing public. Either Doocy or his co-host Brian Kilmeade come back with: “So you think the American public is stupid, Ed?” Wow. Obviously, that is what he is saying!

It’s that kind of retort that truly disheartens me about the current culture of news media. “Raising the level of political discourse” in this country has been a banner for many people on both sides of the political landscape in this country for a while now, but really they are just feeding the filthy need for drama that “the average American audience” seems to love so much. “Reality shows” really aren&#rsquo;t reality so much as real situtations carefully crafted and put into motion by TV producers, and most politically-charged news media isn&#rsquo;t reality either, I&#rsquo;d say. It&#rsquo;s just as fake, dramatic, and wildly entertaining as any reality show or professional wrestling.

I&#rsquo;m not a fan of either reality shows (mostly) or of professional wrestling, but I know people who are and they are (mostly) not idiots, but they like to be entertained in dramatic and exciting ways. TV has shown that it&#rsquo;s easy and cheap to produce these shows, so I guess it would follow that it&#rsquo;s easy and cheap to make dramatic and entertaining “political discourse” on the same level. But like I said, that&#rsquo;s not reality. It&#rsquo;s dramatized, entertaining reality. Politics shouldn&#rsquo;t be dramatized, sanded-down, simplified, or easy to swallow. It&#rsquo;s our lot in life living in a democracy to be well-informed, and thanks to media outlets like Fox News, you can be fed just about anything and be entertained by some verbal catfights as well! How novel! Some people can see through the slick packaging and tasty morsels of drama, and some don&#rsquo;t. It just so happens that the former are more likely to be better educated than the latter. Go figure!