Comedian Jon Stewart hailed as the serious face of US current affairs

Jon Stewart (pictured with John Travolta), host of The Daily Show, the send-up of the more moronic sort of American cable news stations, appears to have achieved something his bona fide counterparts consistently fail to achieve – credibility. This week the New York Times asked whether Stewart had become "the most trusted man in America". And in a survey carried out by the respected Pew Research Centre to find the journalist the US public most admired, Stewart came fourth, tying with Dan Rather and other luminaries.

One of the most popular items on the show – broadcast on Comedy Central in the US and on More 4 in Britain - is Stewart’s handling of the constant barrage of rumours around Barack Obama. Stewart, 45, who began life as a stand-up comic and has no news reporting background at all, bills it on the programme as "Baracknophobi", and shows clips of "experts" repeating baseless rumours about the Illinois senator. A typical example went like this: "Oh, this is interesting," said Stewart. "SomeguyI'veneverheardof.com is reporting presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama has lady parts. Obviously scurrilous and unfounded, we’ll examine it tonight in our special, 'Barack Obama's Vagina: The October Surprise In His Pants'."

Stewart, 45, told the New York Times: "Hopefully, the process is to spot things that would be grist for the funny mill. In some respects, the heavier subjects are the ones that are most loaded with opportunity because they have the most... potential energy, so to delve into that gives you the largest combustion, the most interest. I don’t mean for the audience. I mean for us."