Three Hours of Waterboarding with Jon Stewart

Commentary by Marita Noon - Energy makes America great - On Thursday, February 27, I received an email that said: “I'm a producer at theDaily Show with Jon Stewart. We're working on a segment about fracking & I wanted to reach out to see if you'd be interested in participating. I read your column in Town Hall a few months ago & it's just what we're looking for—we'd like to have someone dispel a lot of the myths & untruths about fracking.” I responded that, yes, I was interested. After doing my research, I agreed to participate.
     On March 6, I flew to New York City for a taping on March 7. I knew that the Daily Show is a comedy show masquerading as a news program. My peers told mehorror stories of how the show had treated others whose views didn't mesh with those of Jon Stewart—not that the guests were personally abused, but that the final product didn't represent what was really said during the taping. 

     I weighed the pro and cons and decided to take the risk. I figured that no matter how good I might be, I was unlikely to change the opinions of the young audience that watches the Daily Show and thinks it is real news. Additionally, my audience doesn’t generally watch it—and if they do, they’ll know my comments were heavily edited, as my views are well known. 

     What really pushed me to accept the invitation was the fact that the following week, March 10-13, I was scheduled to be in Southern California speaking on college campuses and my Daily Show taping would enhance my “street-cred” with the potential audiences. Read full column

Three Hours of Waterboarding with Jon Stewart