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AS FAKE NEWS ANCHORS GO, Jon Stewart has been in a league of his own for years, No one satirizes political Mr. bigwigs better than Mr. Stewart and his team of bogus correspondents and commentators on his popular Comedy Central show.
But now Mr. Stewart has moved into even more select company. He's becoming an opinion shaper-the Oprah of the political world.
Publishers vie with each other to get their authors on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, and the satirist is becoming an ever more powerful influence in the media world-particularly with the elusive younger generation.
"He is as important in shaping opinions today as Walter Cronkite was in the '70s and Huntley and Brinkley were in the '50s and '60s," says Seth Siegel, co-founder of The Beanstalk Group, a branding consulting firm. "There's no other journalist today, real or fake, who is more significant for people 18 to 25."
Presidential campaign
LAST YEAR, it seemed, was the year of Jon Stewart, when the former stand-up comic had the No. 1 nonfiction bestseller and his five-year-old program became a breakout hit it with its "Indecision 2004" election coverage.
But 2005 has proved to be even better. The Daily Show audience is up 20%, to 1.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
"I...