The inspiration for this project sparked from a photo circulating lately on the internet. The picture has Donald Trump and John Oliver, with the caption “We used to laugh at comedians and listen to politicians, now we laugh at politicians and listen to comedians”. From a PR standpoint, it is important to see where the public puts their trust in news reporting, and it seems that these comedy news shows, such as The Daily Show or Last Week Tonight, are becoming a reliable source for young viewers to get their news. The Practice of Public Relations text states “The first decade of the 21st century saw a dramatic increase in the number of Americans turning to cable television-CNN,MSNBC, Fox, CNBC, and even the Comedy Channel-for their daily news”(Seitel
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Dannagal G. Young conducted research on the motivations of people who view The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. In this survey, for those who have The Daily Show and The Colbert Report in their top three television shows, 80% watch it “because it put them in a good mood/it’s humorous”, 41% watch it “as sources of information and knowledge”, and 39% watch it “to make the news fun”. Only 10% of the viewers sees these shows as unbiased and truthful(Young 10). I think an important statement Young adds is “political satire may help field the kind of broad, integrative thinking that helps them make connections and insights” (Young 14). These comedy news shows have an unique way of connecting with their audience and gaining trust from their viewers. Shows like The Daily Show not only broadcast news, but they also poke fun at the media for their news coverage. Another scholarly article by Paul R. Brewer and Emily Marquardt goes into this mock news genre and the effects of it. Stewart himself states how “his program recycled news; in doing so, however, it frequently presented its own interpretation and sometimes offered its own criticism of the original presentation.”(Brewer and Marquardt). A study was done on the content with The Daily Show. Within a 2 month period, Jon Stewart made a total of 83 political jokes. They also analyzed how Stewart acts as “a court jester who ridicules the shoddy
Dannagal G. Young conducted research on the motivations of people who view The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. In this survey, for those who have The Daily Show and The Colbert Report in their top three television shows, 80% watch it “because it put them in a good mood/it’s humorous”, 41% watch it “as sources of information and knowledge”, and 39% watch it “to make the news fun”. Only 10% of the viewers sees these shows as unbiased and truthful(Young 10). I think an important statement Young adds is “political satire may help field the kind of broad, integrative thinking that helps them make connections and insights” (Young 14). These comedy news shows have an unique way of connecting with their audience and gaining trust from their viewers. Shows like The Daily Show not only broadcast news, but they also poke fun at the media for their news coverage. Another scholarly article by Paul R. Brewer and Emily Marquardt goes into this mock news genre and the effects of it. Stewart himself states how “his program recycled news; in doing so, however, it frequently presented its own interpretation and sometimes offered its own criticism of the original presentation.”(Brewer and Marquardt). A study was done on the content with The Daily Show. Within a 2 month period, Jon Stewart made a total of 83 political jokes. They also analyzed how Stewart acts as “a court jester who ridicules the shoddy