What if good journalism works?

Note: I think you will need to be logged into the University Library system to access the links provided in full below. If they work as intended, the links will take you to a page in the Academic Search Premier where you can read an abstract of the article mentioned and download the full version, if you would like.

I came across an academic study - The Local News Story: Is Quality a Choice? - that finds a positive correlation between local TV news stations’ investment is “quality reporting” and their ratings.
http://search.ebscohost.com.floyd.lib.umn.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=31930718&site=ehost-live

There is a short discussion of the article titled Too Good to Be True? in the July/August 2008 Columbia Journalism Review
http://search.ebscohost.com.floyd.lib.umn.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=33252003&site=ehost-live

These lead me to want to ask Don Shelby something along these lines:
A study published in April of this year indicates that “the more local TV invests in quality reporting, the bigger its audience tends to be. Already there are questions about the direction of cause and effect, but is there any hope that academic studies will lead to a change in the way local television news casts are assembled?

In my research about The Daily Show, I found an article - The Daily Show: Discursive Integration and the Reinvention of Political Journalism
http://search.ebscohost.com.floyd.lib.umn.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=18288616&site=ehost-live
which refers to a 2004 National Annenberg Election Survey that

“...found that 40% of the audience is between the ages of 18 and 29, but perhaps surprisingly, the show also attracts an older audience, with 27% above the age of 44. The NAES data further reveal that the audience is more educated, follows the news more regularly, and is more politically knowledgeable than the general population. (p 260)

Bringing me to this question for Don Shelby:
How do you think about “fake” news outlets like the The Daily Show, which shares a time slot with the local newscasts? Is humorous current events programming aimed a younger viewers a specific threat, or just another competitor in the vast sea of cable/satellite-delivered options?