Making newscasters a bit more cautious can’t be a bad thing, Mo Rocca says.

Question: How has “The Daily Show” affected other news broadcasts?

Mo Rocca:I don’t think it’s had a dramatic effect. I think one of the effects, which is not a probably great effect, is that a lot of the news shows now try to show that they have a sense of humor; and that they can be rascals as well or make fun of themselves. And I’m not sure how . . . I’m not sure how valuable that is. I think probably their anchors on these shows are less likely to say things without thinking if they’re concerned that they might be made fun of on a show like “The Daily Show”, so that can’t be bad. I don’t think . . . I don’t think that’s made them gun shy. I don’t think that’s made them gun shy in a way that the audience isn’t being served. I mean you know I think . . . I think . . . I think that the . . . The sad reality remains that they are . . . that they respond to what they think their audience wants. And this current campaign is so riveting that they’re sort of on their best behavior right now. And I actually think that the cable news nets, which are sort of flawed because they feel that they need to keep filling all this time, at least it’s being filled with more substantive politics than usual.

Recorded on: 2/14/08