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Why an Indian Jon Stewart is a long way off

When a comedian decides, after 16 years, to leave the late-night cable-television show he hosts for an American network, it is not generally earth-shattering news. But when the comedian in question is Jon Stewart, and the programme is Comedy Central's The Daily Show, it is another thing altogether. The thing is: Mr Stewart is far more than a comedian, or a host. He has, in the years since he took over the show in 1999, turned into America's leading progressive voice. Even more, he is, by some distance, its most trusted purveyor of news. Willy-nilly, his television programme - meant to parody the news - turned into an indispensable source of information for an entire generation. Even as the icons of network news, the gravel-voiced men who had delivered the nightly bulletins for decades, became increasingly irrelevant and discredited, undone by the internet and by their own unquestioning closeness to government narratives, Mr Stewart took their place. In a very postmodern, Ironic Age manner, he was able to pull this off precisely because he shrugged off any attempt at authority. He would insist he was just a comedian; if people turned to him for the news, that was his fault. If he got something wrong, he would accept it, lapping up criticism far more readily than he did praise. In a world questioning of authority, only the man unwilling to accept any authority can actually assume any.

Had 9/11 not happened, Mr Stewart and The Daily Show would probably have been just another topical comedy show, with a devoted but tiny following. What set TDS apart was that, in the feverish and hyper-patriotic public environment that followed 9/11, and while the erstwhile liberal icons like The New York Times were trumpeting the march to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr Stewart was gently using comedy to question the George W Bush administration. This courage - so rare in those years of lockstep media coverage - gave him and his show an audience above and beyond the teenagers whom he was originally supposed to be broadcasting to. Mr Stewart himself criticises "real" news networks, such as CNN or Fox News, for being far too "9/11" themselves - having remade themselves in the shadow of that event, they are unable to operate at anything but extra-loud "threat level orange" volume. In that media market, Mr Stewart's reflective, mocking take on the exaggerations, hypocrisies and spin of the media and of politicians stood out. In the process, the most light-weight "news" show on television actually became the biggest heavy-weight; and the funniest became, simultaneously, the most earnest.

There is no doubt that many of India's news channels are also on the road to becoming similar over-the-top mouthpieces for official propaganda - or mindless contrarianism - as US cable news. The replacement of reportage by talking heads battling over trending topics - both cheaper and more entertaining, many in the business believe - began in the US, but has gathered pace here. But no voice has emerged that is similar to Jon Stewart's; no programme that is similar to The Daily Show. There are, of course, topical comedy programmes - Cyrus Broacha's The Week That Wasn't, for example. But, in spite of the talent of the writers and presenters, there is little doubt that they are pulling their punches. They fear to offend their mainstream viewers; it is impossible to imagine them being able to match the credibility that Mr Stewart built up, because it is impossible to imagine they would flow against the news-TV tide the way he did after 9/11. Indian news organisations, by and large, are much more respectful of authority - unlike The Daily Show, unafraid of taking on powerful or litigious individuals. News outlets here also, traditionally, avoid going after their competitors directly; some of Mr Stewart's most memorable segments tore apart Fox News or CNN - or even his own network's owners, Viacom. Entertainment programmes in India believe that they must pander to the lowest instincts of their audience; Mr Stewart made people think, and question their assumptions. Much has to change before there could ever be an Indian Jon Stewart.