HawksleyDebatePaper1

**Does comedy news enhance political and environmental literacy?** Throughout history people in positions of power have been criticized for their decisions and have often been the subject of jokes as well. The form of these jokes and the way people receive news has continually evolved from word of mouth to newspapers to television and the internet. News today travels so fast that is easy to stay informed, but this also results in an overwhelming amount of information to take in, which often isn’t very cheerful. Comedy news is an alternative to tradition news that also functions as a form of entertainment. In the United States, comedy news has become a strong media force that captures the attention of millions of people every day. Shows like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report discuss hot topics in politics, pop culture, trends, sports, and entertainment. These comedians have captivated Americans with their humorous presentations of current events and endless humiliation of politicians over the past ten years. When questioning if comedy news enhances political and environmental literacy, stakeholders must be considered. Stakeholders of comedy news are all of the viewers (majority of young adults), politicians or people running for elected positions, and ultimately the government and country as a whole. There are several sub-issues that need to be addressed to systematically discuss this topic. Key words of the question need to be defined, such as ‘enhance’ and ‘literacy’. The differences between traditional news and comedy news need to be explored. Finally, a method needs to be distinguished to analyze how well informed the population is about political and environmental topics.
 * Debate Paper #1**
 * Erika Hawksley**
 * 10/18/11**

According to the New York Magazine article //America is a Joke// by Chris Smith, comedians like Jon Stewart are enhancing political and environmental literacy by uncovering a new view on current events. Smith refers to Stewart as an “invaluable corrective” for the deceitful reporting found in traditional political news and the absurdity of people in our governmental system. //America is a Joke// gives us a behind the scenes look at the preliminary efforts and continuous editing that create the thoughtful jokes presented on //The Daily Show//. Smith makes it clear through dialogue between Jon Stewart and his team that everything said on the show is carefully phrased to, most importantly, produce the desired impact and, secondly, get a laugh out of the audience. Smith also claims that “Stewart is as essential as ever” and that satirists like him will remain in good standing no matter who is in the White House because there are always other topics to confront. The ideological framework of this argument is centered on the way Stewart perceives the work he does compared to that of politician; i.e. “We feel like, we’re serious people doing an unserious thing, and they’re unserious people doing a very serious thing.”(2) Smith argues that Stewart is not only entertaining, but he is truly trying to keep Americans informed about current events and presenting the news in a way that makes us want to get involved with the big issues.

Overall, Smith’s argument of Jon Stewart’s role in our society is convincing. However, I think that one comment Smith made was an overstatement and I don’t necessarily believe. He argued that Stewart “ clings to the naïve hope that the legitimate news media will get its act together and become a resolute force for truth and good government .” (2) In my opinion, Jon Stewart accepts that our society has not yet provided adequate news and feels purposeful that his show helps fill this void. If the news was un-biased and truthful he wouldn’t be needed.

In his article, //Jon Stewart and the Burden of History//, Tom Junod argues that Jon Stewart is not simply a comedian, but something much more. Junod views Stewarts work as, “ not comedy at all but rather high-toned journalism with a sense of humor ”. Junod recognizes how smart and clever Stewart is for presenting news in the way he does. However, he sees Stewart’s false news as misleading and thus thinks that comedy news does not enhance political and environmental literacy. The ideological framework of Junod’s argument is that Stewart is seen as a redeemer of liberal America and he feeds this collective fantasy by arguing that he is just a comedian.(3) //Jon Stewart and the Burden of History// points out that Stewart, once a stand-up comedian, can’t go back to “the pleasures of fart jokes and funny faces” because he feels an obligation to uphold his unique analysis of politics for the American people. He backs up this view by discussing how people take Stewart’s criticism seriously and that Stewart interviews important players in our political society, thus his show is not just comedy. Junod also puts forward the idea that when you play ‘The Jon Stewart Game’ everybody loses except him because he makes bold moves when confronted with important topics and we reward him for it.

Tom Junod’s article has some holes in the argument that comedy news does not enhance political literacy. It was convincing that Jon Stewart does play a role in journalism, but there could have been more supporting data about how the information he presents is misleading. Although Stewart’s news may be misleading, it still presents topics of real issues to viewers who then have to make their own decisions about truth or falsehood.

In //Political Punch Lines//, author Jessica Bloustein argues that comedy news does enhance political and environmental literacy, but people should not rely solely on such sources for their information about current issues. Bloustein supports her argument with the following findings: “The Pew Research Center recently found that audiences for "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" were better informed about the world around them than the general population, scoring in the highest percentile on knowledge of current events. ”(1) This information extends the idea from Chris Smith’s article //America is a Joke// that comedy news does make people aware of current topics in politics even if the news presented is skewed. Bloustein also backs up her argument by pointing out that some politicians go on shows such as //The Daily Show// to gain popularity and awareness about the issues they will present in their campaign. These ideas go against Junod’s argument that comedy news is negligible with respect to enhancing political literacy because it is presented in a misleading way.

I generally agree with Bloustein’s argument with regard to this topic. I think comedy news does raise awareness of critical issues and is great at pointing out some of the absurd actions of our politicians. Shows such as //The Daily Show// are informative, but should not be considered comprehensive news. Jon Stewart effectively presents juxtapositions of what politicians say and do as well as unique ways of analyzing news that people may not have realized otherwise. To enhance political and environmental literacy to a broader population, I think we need more bold analyses of news, such as Stewart does, but without as many jokes. In one respect, I think we need the seriousness of issues to come through without being distracted by an underlying joke, but I also think that presenting news with comedy helps us bear the weight of these issues without being completely overwhelmed.

1. Bloustein, Jessica. “Political Punch Lines.” //U.S. Politics.// Newsweek, 10 September 2008. Web. 17 October 2011. <[]> 2. Smith, Chris. “America is a Joke.” //New York Magazine//. 12 September 2010. Web. 16 October 2011. <[]> 3. Junod, Tom. “Jon Stewart and the Burden of History.” //Esquire.// October 2011. Web. 17 October 2011. <[]>
 * Sources**