U.S. Political Campaign Discourse Explodes Online

In the days after Sarah Palin was nominated as the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, the Web was rife with content focused on the Alaska governor. One of the most piquant -- and widely viewed -- video clips came from The Daily Show. In it, host Jon Stewart highlighted Palin doublespeak by conservative pundits. He showed, for instance, a clip of Bill O'Reilly calling the pregnancy of Palin's teen daughter a private issue just months after the Fox News commentator had lambasted actress Jamie Lynn Spears' parents for allowing their 16-year-old to get pregnant. "See, see what happens with the opinions on teen pregnancy is that they gestate over a period of a few months," Stewart quipped. The video took off online, racking up 4.2 million views, a record for The Daily Show's site.

The rapid dissemination of the Stewart clip underscores how the Internet is helping to broaden the influence of commentators, comedians, bloggers, and pundits in a year when the public can't get enough information about the Presidential election. On cable, The Daily Show is drawing its highest ratings ever, luring 1.9 million viewers each night of the week of Sept. 15, according to TV ratings service Nielsen Media Research. But the show's Web site is growing in lockstep; 850,000 people visited the site that week, putting it on track for its biggest month ever. Traffic has tripled in the past year.

Proactive News Consumers

Some credit for the exploding online popularity of The Daily Show goes to a decision by Viacom's (VIA) Comedy Central to make all Daily Show content available free on the Web -- amid an ongoing battle with Google (GOOG) over illegally posted clips on YouTube. It also doesn't hurt that Stewart often offers what viewers consider an entertaining and enlightening take on the twists and turns of a...