During our class discussion on The Daily Show with John Stewart I found it quite shocking that, while we addressed the effects the show has on the increase in cynicism of younger citizens towards the news media, we did not once question the role of the Daily Show in our democracy. It may seem strange that I would question the role of a self labeled "Fake News" show in our democracy, but I argue that the role of this hybrid type of journalism is important in the media's ability to fulfill it's role in our democracy.
If we can agree that the news media's job is to " comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." Then I take it that we can agree that the Daily Show is doing it's job as news media.
For example, in recent news the death of an African American teenager has disturbed the country and ignited debate centered around the causes of his death. Whether it was in the shooter's self defense, the color of the teen's skin, or as one news reporter believes the hoodie the teen was wearing is to blame.
What!
"The hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin's death as George Zimmermen"
The show does an incredibly clever critique of the the news media's 'blame-it-on-the-hoodie' response to the event, by dressing one reporter, John Oliver, in a hoodie and having another reporter, Wyatt Cenac, divert the blame from the hoodie and redirect it towards the skittles Martin had during the shooting.
"It wasn’t just the hoodie that frightened Zimmerman it was the hoodie coupled with this terrifying candy!" referring to the skittles "All I know is that these rainbow colored fear pellets are right at the top of the do not carry list."
This clever way of criticizing the media seems to be the Daily Show's forte.
What does this mean?
It means that the Daily Show, as a branch of the media, is playing the role of the watch dog over the watch dog.
What this means for our democracy is that we have a self evaluating media structure that is dependent on the existence of mainstream critique of our mainstream media, and the the Daily Show plays its role quite well.
I say quite well because as Jody Baumgartner and Jonathan S. Morris found "Exposure to The Daily Show does indeed seem to generate increased cynicism toward the news media."
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<http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-march-26-2012/c-n-i---cable-news-investigators---hoodie-threat>https://blackboard.stetson.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-245783-dt-content-rid-482386_1/courses/5386.POLI.390.01.201225/baum_morris.pdf>
I would totally agree. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of the over-sarcasm approach in political and pop culture commentary with shows like these, but I cannot deny its influence. Shows like the Daily Show confront the media's coverage of key events in our society, or in this case, the mis-targetted coverage. Particularly with this Trayvon Martin case and the media's obsession with the hoodie and the bag of candy, I just want to jump in the screen and falcon punch all of them. It's not about the hoodie, the candy, or the ice tea, as the Daily Show clearly notes-- it's about the lack of follow-through with the Police Department, the corruption within the system of the Police playing the role as the legislative and branch judicial branches in interpreting the testimony of Zimmerman and allowing him to go free with the murder weapon, and the influence of racial profiling. Shows like this definitely have a role to play within our broadcast media as the watchdog over the watchdog as you pointed out.
ReplyDeleteI completly agree the media is turning this in to a fad when its not it is a serious movement (btw good use of a captian falcon refference)
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