Jon Stewart Calls for an ‘Information Bill of Rights’ While Assessing the Evils of the Current Media Ecosystem

Jon Stewart has called for the creation of an “information bill of rights” to show the American people what they are entitled to know about their government and what’s going on in the country.

On Thursday’s episode of The Problem with Jon Stewart, he said, “there are ways to bolster democracy that are not just about covering how voting is under threat.” “What if the media were focused actually not on political ramifications but on governance? It strikes me that the media almost ignores governance,” Stewart said.

He was joined by Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan to discuss the current state of media and what improvements could be made for the American people. Stewart wants the media to hold the government accountable rather than taking sides. “Is the government delivering on the programs, what is the value of the American budget, not how much we’re spending, what is the value we get from it?”

Sullivan agreed, saying, “that’s why I’d like to see- we always hear a lot about political reporting, it would be so great if it were redefined as actually ‘government reporting’, which is what it’s supposed to be. So less about the palace intrigue, and less about the horse race of one campaign or another. You know, ‘who’s ahead’ and ‘what if this happens?’ and more about what’s going on.”

“I think we kind of underestimate the interest and the intelligence of the public when we don’t do that. I actually think there’s- people do care about the democracy,” Sullivan said. “Some people talk about a ‘citizens agenda’. What’s the citizen agenda? What would actually be good for the citizens of the United States? What do they need to know about?”

Listen above via The Problem with Jon Stewart.