The idea may not be as ludicrous as it sounds. If Stewart did anchor a Big 3 evening newscast, young adults might actually watch it.

Short of that, they will continue to ignore such traditional news sources in favor of mavericks like Stewart's The Daily Show, which proudly bills itself as "the most trusted name in fake news."

So say media experts, scholars, numbers crunchers, and, most important, young adults themselves.

"I think of watching network newscasts as something my parents do," says University of Pennsylvania graduating senior Jen Jablow, 22, an anthropology major from Somerset, N.J.

"I can't imagine my friends sitting down to watch an actual network newscast at 6:30 because we're doing other things at that time. It's a lot quicker to go online. I customize my news."

Like many of her classmates, Jablow uses the Peabody-winning Daily Show (11 p.m. Monday through Thursday) as a springboard to pursue real stories on the Internet and on National Public Radio.

Others, like Drexel University senior Craig Eisenberger, see Stewart, a flag-waving liberal, and his band of merry pranksters as a primary information source.

The Daily Show "is geared toward people who can think more critically," says Eisenberger, 21, a communications major from Freeland, Pa. "If you watch Fox News at 10, you can find out what can kill you in your kitchen."

Regardless of Daily Show's yuks, it "provides more news than most undergrads get, anyway," notes St. Joseph's University graduating senior Lauren Taniguchi, 22, of Bridgeton, N.J.

While The Daily Show doesn't do original reporting - other than what its faux correspondents make up - it weaves real news clips with biting satirical commentary.

With a network evening news format that's remained virtually unchanged - and unfunny - for 40 years, it's no surprise that young adults take a pass.

This is a generation, after all, raised on the savagely barbed topical lampoonery of The Simpsons and South Park. Irony is mother's milk to them.

The median age of Big 3 news viewers hovers around 60 - twice as old as that of Comedy Central.

Only 10 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds watching TV are tuning in to the evening news on ABC, NBC and CBS combined this season, according to figures provided by Nielsen Media Research.

By comparison, 13 percent of 18-to-25-year-olds say they watch The Daily Show regularly as an information source, according to a study released in January by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

"Young people grew up on Napster and the ability to download whatever they want, whenever they want," says Dana Young, 31, assistant professor of communication at the University of Delaware.

"They reprocess it, mash it up. They like to have control and a feedback loop. They can't relate to anchors."

Jon Banner, executive producer of the top-rated ABC World News, says he and his peers are not concerned.

ABC's expanding presence in the digital world doesn't mean the 6:30 p.m. World News is headed for extinction, he insists. (Charlie Gibson's live 15-minute weekday Webcast logged 50 million downloads from January '06 to January '07, Banner says.)