O'Reilly and Stewart

Bill O'Reilly and Jon Stewart represent two large markets for infotainment or, put another way, "news" with an entertainment component.  O'Reilly caters to the center-right of the political infotainment market and Stewart to the center-left.  A recent segment on the O'Reilly program in which he interviews and spars with Stewart puts on full display the weakness in this TV programming format and why it's hard to get any really useful educational information from this medium.  Mostly the interview is about showing the audience how clever and quick these two TV personalities are.  It does nothing to shed light on the current problems and issues of consequence we now face in the country.  This is what could be described as a "gotcha" TV interview with quick witted individuals trying to outscore each other for audience approval.  Want to be entertained?  Watch this programming.  Want real information of substance on a subject?  There's still no substitute for finding credible sources, comparing viewpoints and reaching conclusions on ones own.  Fortunately the emergence of the internet makes this job much easier.