Where do you get your news from? According to the Washington Post, the 48% of "young people" get their news from two main sources: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert.

A study done at Indiana University maintains that the comedy pseudo-news programs contain just as much real news as your 7 o’clock local program. While some time is wasted in the former with politician-mocking comedy, roughly the same amount of time is wasted in basic news programs by "hype". There has to be some attraction to these cuttingly satirical political programs; each won an Emmy at this year’s awards, Colbert Report for its writing staff, and Daily Show for best variety/comedy/music program for the 6th straight year.

It’s even been proven that Colbert Report and Daily Show viewers are more informed. In a 2007 study reported by the New York Times, 1,502 adults were asked 23 questions about current events. Of the people who knew the most – answered the most questions correctly – the top two news sources they relied on were the Colbert Report and the Daily Show.

For more evidence of the shows’ influence, take Stephen Colbert’s consistent claims that his show gives political candidates a bump in the polls – the "Colbert Bump". According to the a new study published in the journal of the American Political Science Association written by James Fowler, "Candidates who went on the show [Colbert Report] raised about 44 percent more money than like candidates who didn’t go on the show in the 30 days after the show, but the bump appears to work only for Democratic candidates."

It is interesting to see how much effect these programs have on their younger viewers. An article posted on washingtonpost.com claims that these shows are having a negative impact on its audience. The story argues that the satirical presentation of the news makes younger, college-age viewers more cynical about politics and politicians themselves, which therefore makes them less likely to vote. Seeing as our age group is already the group least likely to vote, I can see how this is a problem.

Regardless of whether you watch The Colbert Report, Fox News, or CNN, make sure you keep an open mind and try to gather information from as many sources as possible. The only way to make a good decision is to know all the information.