TVSquad

Ever watch The Daily Show skewer a politician or military figure with his or her own words, and wonder how they found the video evidence? I'm guessing that the people at The Washington Post were asking the same question. So instead of profiling one of the writers or correspondents, they decided to give the show's "unsung hero," associate producer Adam Chodikoff, his own profile.

Chodikoff, who's the show's main researcher, apparently has a photographic memory for what's been said on the various news channels and Sunday-morning political talkfests, which is why he can find footage to use for those great "before and after" bits the show is known for. You know what I'm talking about: Politician X says one thing, then they immediately show a clip from a month to a decade ago of Politician X saying the very opposite. The Daily Show seems to be the only broadcast that calls newsmakers on their BS, and it's mainly because of Chodikoff.

The article goes on to talk about Chodikoff's background -- a degree in political science -- and his knack for pulling out a piece of information that's deep within a story and making a successful pitch to the writers to run with it. He reads eight papers a day and cruises the internet news sites looking for something good.

What he won't read are blogs. ""I'll defend the mainstream media," he told the paper. "I trust [information] that has been edited and fact-checked."

It's always good to see the press concentrate on "the little guy" instead of the big stars, so I'll just leave those comments about blogs alone. Oh, and despite Chodikoff's youthful appearance, he's old enough to have been with TDS since the first day. I don't think he was doing those before-and-after bits for Craig Kilborn...

[via Mediabistro]