Gail Shister
TVNewser Columnist

A bunch of eggheads are calling Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" a horrible name.

The J-word! (There, we said it.)

Comedy Central's faux news show "commits journalism on a regular basis, whether they want to admit it or not," says Tom Rosenstiel, director of Washington's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

"It gets people to think serious thoughts about the public square. This is a form of political commentary. They're doing it with razors, for laughs, but they're doing it."

PEJ released a report Thursday on "The Daily Show," comparing its "news agenda" with that of 48 other news sources including Big 3 evening newscasts and morning shows; cable news networks and newspapers.

The group analyzed "Daily Show" telecasts for all of 2007, tracking guests and segments.

No major surprises, Rosenstiel says, but now it's all official, with numbers and graphs and charts.

"There's an earnestness to a study like this that's a little embarrassing when you talk about comedy," he says. "We're easy targets. It's like trying to shoot a hole through cardboard. It's not that hard."

We'll keep our .48 holstered. What's the headline, Tom?

continued...

Interior of the Newseum in November at the Meet the Press 60th Anniversary party. (photo: Alissa Krinsky)

WaPo's Howard Kurtz takes a walk through the new Newseum for a story in tomorrow's paper:

There is a nice sense of serendipity to the place. Touch one computer screen and you can look at excerpts of famous books and documents, such as the Magna Carta and "Life and Times of Frederick Douglass." Walk down a different corridor and you can see Howard Cosell shadowboxing with Muhammad Ali, or CNN's Bernard Shaw in Baghdad as the Persian Gulf War bombs started dropping, or 44 cartoons from the New Yorker.

The USA Today has a special sidebar in their story about the Newseum, titled "About that $20 admission fee for adults." Kurtz writes "the $20 admission fee — $13 for those 7 to 12, with younger kids free — feels stiff." However, admission is free for school groups, "under a partnership with The Washington Post." Also, Time Warner, News Corp., Hearst, the New York Times, NBC News and ABC News "have ponied up $5 million to $15 million, and each receives a positive, wall-mounted storyboard or, in NBC's case, a video in which Brian Williams welcomes visitors."

• Earlier: This Week Moves to the Newseum...

So, what's the greatest concern you have about the news business? Quality of coverage? A lack of credibility? Well, according to a new Pew poll of journalists, the financial crisis facing news organizations is most concerning. The study found, "majorities of national and local journalists cite a financial or economic concern as the most important problem facing journalism."

The Pew survey of journalists also found internet-driven innovations, including commenting on news stories, video sites and news aggregating sites, are viewed positively.

The journalists surveyed are less optimistic about the future of nightly network news. Four-in-ten expect nightly network broadcasts to survive only for another 10 years or less; two-in-ten think printed newspapers will disappear in the next decade.

The survey of 585 reporters, editors and news executives was conducted by the Pew Research Center in conjunction with the Project for Excellence in Journalism. You can read more here.

> More: TVDecoder has more on the study: the ratings for morning shows and newsmagaizese ar also down: "In 2007, 12.7 million viewers watched on an average morning, down 4 percent from the year before." As for newsmags, TVDecoder writes, the PEJ found "a 4 percent decline for the most popular of the breed, '60 Minutes' on CBS. Also on CBS, '48 Hours' declined 4 percent, ABC's '20/20' dropped by 11 percent, and NBC's 'Dateline' fell by 8 percent."

B&C's Michael Malone has the news from this morning's McGraw-Hill Media Summit where Disney CEO Bob Iger conceded the computer is replacing TV as the primary entertainment source in the home.

"In the years ahead, broadband on the computer will be the primary source of entertainment for kids," Iger told the group. "It's just as important to them as the TV set now." Malone writes, "Iger stressed how social media was far from a Gen X or Gen Y fad, but in fact a part of everyday life for children."

Oh, and he only has two Facebook friends. Come on people, help a CEO out!

At 3:01amET TVNewser received the email announcing that Hulu was now live. In the accompanying press release, CEO Jason Kilar said the online video service will, "help people find and enjoy the world's premium content, when where and how they want it."

B&C's Alex Weprin writes about that content: "Web-exclusive videos such as The Onion News Network and CNET Video are next to slick professional productions from NBC and E! Entertainment Television."

As far as (real) news content, Hulu includes clips from NBC News and MSNBC, but none from Fox News Channel. Hulu was founded by News Corp. and NBCU. B&C also reports Hulu continues to look for other content partners from the broadcast-digital world, including CBS.

After the jump, the first Hulu clip, embeded on TVNewser...

continued...

The NYTimes reports on the news outlets who observed a 10-week request to hold off on reporting that Prince Harry was fighting in Afghanistan. CNN was among them.

The story was first reported on Drudge Report Thursday morning. The cable news networks almost immediately picked up the news from Drudge, dispatching their London correspondents.

The Times reports, "The Associated Press, Reuters and CNN also joined the agreement. American newspapers including The New York Times were not made aware of the British press blackout." CNN International's EVP Tony Maddox told the Times, "Newspapers and broadcasts can behave themselves better than people think they can when a security situation is involved."

Still, there is a growing debate about the weeks-kept secret. In fact, where it all began, on Drudge today, there is a link to a Reuters story questioning "whether it was right for the media to keep quiet about it for so long."

An ABC News/Facebook survey has found most Americans still get their Presidential election news from TV, but the Internet continues to give newspapers a serious run. Here's what the survey found:

• 70% say TV is one of their top two election news sources. Down 8% since 2004 and down 15% since 1996 (Pew polls).

• 26% say the newspaper is a top election news source. Down from 60% in 1996.

• 23% say the Internet is a main source of election news. Twice the level seven years ago.

The Internet is also the only election news source to show growth, doubling since 2000. 73% of adults now go online. 40% use the Internet specifically for news and information about politics and the election, surpassing the previous high of 35% in a 2004 survey.

(image courtesy: JupiterImagesUnlimited)