Ronny Chieng Doesn’t Want The Daily Show to Be Your Only News Source: ‘I Wouldn’t Like That’

I don’t feel different, but in that interview I said that I reserve the right to change my mind after he takes office. I still believe in the rule of law in America, so I don’t think it’s aimed at the reporter per se. But I’m not a journalist yet, so I don’t feel the same way. I mean, I wonder if he’ll come after the comics! I do not know.

We’ve talked before about how some comedians embrace their roles as journalists or thought leaders. Do you think it has to do with audiences wanting to hear straight opinions instead of nuanced reporting?

I think part of it is that hot leads get clicks, so people are just trying to become hot take machines and not actually doing journalism. And another part of it is that spoken media make information easier to spread than written media. Unfortunately, when you write something, people will take the effort to read it, and it is easier to listen to someone talk than to read an article.

And then some of this is also that people want to hear news filtered through opinions that agree with them. If you are looking for things that agree with your sensitivity that becomes siloing information, and then you do not hear enough alternative opinions. Obviously it’s multifactorial, but I think these are some of the reasons the news has become a bit like two guys slouching on a couch with a microphone just talking.

That’s what’s often a news show now, you know what I mean? To me, it seems very lazy.