When attempting to get their daily dose of news, UK students and other young Americans take a different approach than previous generations. Most don’t turn the TV to Fox News or CNN, they tune into Comedy Central at 11 p.m. ET to watch “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

For about a decade now, Jon Stewart has been the primary news source for many young Americans.  He has even gained the moniker of the “most trusted newscaster in America.” Stewart has done this by blending comedy with a certain amount of truth and realism in his show, which has won 19 Emmys.

The whole reason I’m talking about Stewart in this column is because Thursday was the 10-year anniversary of his infamous appearance on CNN’s “Crossfire,” where he told the show’s panelists that the type of political head-butting that occurred on their show on a daily basis was hurting America.

When they tried to turn the tables on him by accusing him of doing the same thing, he pointed out that his program is a variety show on Comedy Central, while they were a serious political commentary show on a renowned news channel and therefore had an obligation to stop widening the American political discourse.

Stewart’s appearance on the show gained a considerable amount of media attention. “Crossfire” was canceled less than three months after his appearance, and then CNN President Jonathan Klein said that his sympathy towards Stewart’s statements played a part in the decision to end the show. Oddly enough, the revamped version of “Crossfire” was canceled on Thursday – the anniversary of Stewart’s appearance on the previous version of the show.

If one had to pinpoint the moment in which Stewart was no longer seen as just a comedian but also as a serious sociopolitical commentator, it would have to be that infamous “Crossfire” appearance.

Not only has he become the voice of reason for so many Americans, he has inspired similar TV programs in “The Colbert Report” and “Last Week Tonight,” both of which feature former “Daily Show” correspondents Stephen Colbert and John Oliver, respectively.

So why exactly do so many of us look to Stewart as the voice of reason for America? For one, he gives off the image of an everyman.

The political commentators on one of your traditional news shows typically consist of professors, columnists, politicians and journalists. These people are usually eloquent and Ivy League-educated. But this is not Stewart. He graduated from William & Mary College in Virginia, where he used to copy other people’s notes and do regular bong hits.

He doesn’t try to deny his New York roots, which often show through his ridiculously over-exaggerated impression of a stereotypical Italian American.

And he often doesn’t present the most eloquent arguments during debates, as can be seen in his most recent quarrel with Bill O’Reilly.

The two men spent the entire 14-minute interview arguing over the reality of white privilege. At the end of the show, Stewart himself admitted that he probably wasn’t the ideal person to be making the argument. But we listen anyway, because he argues his heart out every single time.

That’s what’s truly at the base of Stewart’s popularity. He is passionate about the issues he talks about, he has little restraint in terms of being politically correct and he always seems to hit the nail on the head no matter what social construct he’s destroying. He’s the guy who shouldn’t be taken seriously, but is anyway.

Cheyene Miller is the assistant opinions editor at the Kentucky Kernel.

Email [email protected].