Debate+2

= Name: Nail Hanov = = Debate Paper #2 = = Topic: Can comedy news enhance political and environmental literacy? = = Date: 3/17/2014 = = Word Count: 1,776 =

=1. Introduction=

1.1 Historical perspective
Comedy news is considered to have been around for almost as long as journalism. It first started with fake articles that were published under credible names. Most times it was done to attract attention. Mark Twain published a few of those while he was employed as a news reporter. To explain the purpose of such articles he said, "a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." However, over the years comedy news evolved into a powerful critique source of main stream news giants. Although humor and irony still remains the main ingredient of this type of journalism it is transformed in the way it has been previously used. Irony is now used to expose the fallacies in statements of famous politicians and main stream news reporters. Even though there are still many critics of comedy news journalists like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, they keep gathering millions of viewers in front of the screen.

1.2 List of stakeholders and Issues
Today’s comedy news influence extends to political, social and economical sectors. As it becomes more and more diverse spreading from news papers to TV shows and many websites, today, it covers vast majority of the public. The main stakeholder in this picture is the viewer because this type of media can certainly influence how people think. Another stakeholder is the remaining media sector itself since as comedy news becomes bigger it may be forced to change and adjust to satisfy the demand. Politicians also play a big role as they get directly affected by ridicule coming from comedy news reporters. Finally, companies like News-Corp get also impacted since a lot of comments from such journalists as Stewart and Colbert directly target what is being said on channels like Fox News that News-Corp owns along with many other major media sources. =2. Overview of the positive position= An article called “America is a joke” was written and published by Chris Smith analyzes the role of comedy news in today’s society. He says that even though these news reports are full of humor they do, nonetheless, address the most recent news. Smith specifically highlights how Stewart’s //The Daily Show// became America’s sharpest political satire by aiming at most current events to keep it relevant. Starting in 1999, when Stewart took over as host, he observed how politics changed over the course of history that has seen terrorist attacks, two wars and a global economic meltdown. While this was happening Fox News Channel lost a lot of its audience because how quickly internet spread through the masses. All these events turned Fox and many other news makers from major media dictators into less effective social news media players. As this change occurred, Stewart made himself into the leading critic of political news media. Also, the fact that many politicians looked as actors reading off the script also added to his credibility status. Stewart is considered by many as most trusted man because he dares to cover and ridicule big political events as presidential campaigns. Due to Stewart’s influence even Fox News stars like Glenn Beck acknowledge his work. However, they dismiss him as mere entertainment. One may argue that this is because Stewart most commonly finds flows in what is being said on Fox News and, hence, he is actually considered as a direct thread by Beck which he cannot deal with and, therefore, disregards with no arguments. When Stewart did a cover of presidential campaign in his “Indecision 2000” he said him and his team noticed how media people lacked the passion for moral and editorial authority which made them want to go after the main stream reporters. In his view they were not serious about the serious job they were doing. Therefore today through the satire they are hoping that the legitimate news media will get its act together and become a force for truth and good government. =3. Analysis of the positive position= Smith brought a lot of insight into Stewart’s career and talked about changes he was able to achieve in the media world. He says that to do each single show that airs four times a week Stewart’s team routinely go through many major news sources. As they find something worth covering the team goes through many edits of the script before getting to the final version that gets presented to the viewers. This is because the show team tries hard to ensure they put enough thought into every news piece that will air. Overall, the article does a good job to show that //The Daily Show// is not just a comedy. =4. Overview of the negative position= An opposing view that says comedy news like //The Daily Show// is just comedy and nothing else is presented in the blog post called “The “Jon Stewart Game”: Everyone Loses, Except Him!” The author of the post, Matt Welch, covers an article written by Tom Junod that directly critiques Jon Stewart and his show. The main argument in this article is that while Stewart constantly says he is a comedian he wants people to believe that he is more than that. Junod accuses Steward for hiding behind his façade and trying to be like Edward R. Murrow from //Times//. He also says that he is like an old western gunslinger that says he is going back to the farm while reaching for the gun to go to war. In author’s opinion, Stewart is not saying what he actually is because he is afraid that he would be judged. =5. Analysis of the positive position= This blog post, in my opinion, lacks a lot of supporting arguments and, therefore, appears to be not very credible. After doing some research on Tom Junod’s background it turned out that he is actually a well established journalist and has won two National Magazine Awards. However, it is hard to say why he blindly throws accusations like a less informed or mature writer that did not do his research. Some of his points were presented with an angry tone which makes look even less credible. Yet another critique goes to the fact that his opinion was the only one presented in the article. No other supporters of his point of view or other articles were presented. =6. Overview of the argument and evidence provided in a third article= Another article that talks about influence of comedy news is based on //60 Minutes Overtime// episode that covers Egyptian show that is hosted by a comedian Bassem Youssef. This show has been banned by high government officials on many occasions and posed a direct life thread to many people involved in the making of the show. Youssef today is considered Egyptian Jon Stewart but with a lot bigger popularity. He gathers 30 million viewers in front of the screen which is approximately twenty times more than what Stewart gets with his show. The show itself clearly resembles its American counterpart but due to unstable government that is considered a dictatorship attracts a lot of attention from government. Youssef himself says, “People of power so often feel threatened by laughter” which explains why the show has been canceled so many times. This clearly shows that laughter is a powerful instrument that transformed how media operates today. People who make this show know that they are doing something bigger than just making jokes. They know that people need truth and one way or another they want to deliver it to them. In the past, Youssef was a respected cardio surgeon but he decided to quit his career to pursue comedy right before the recent revolution in Egypt. He first started putting videos on YouTube and wanted to get around ten thousand viewers but instead he got five million and that is when he received an offer to host his own show. After the old government got overthrown, the situation for Youssef did not get better since the new regime was another dictatorship but this time it was led by marshal of Egypt’s army. His shows were again canceled due to direct ridicule of president and other powerful political figures. He was accused of destabilizing the government regime and being a traitor. Although under such pressure many would consider giving up he is still trying to keep the show going. Director of the show says, “With so much drama going on in the politics people need to laugh, people need entertainment and people need truth”. There are many supporters of this show and that is perhaps why it keeps coming back but the life threads still remain very serious which is why each time when the team is making another episode the filming studio gets fully checked for possible planted bombs. Jon Stewart himself came as a guest twice to Youssef’s show and expressed support. Stewart along with many others think that Youssef is not just a satirist but a leader. =7. Statement of perspective= In my opinion, comedy news develops media literacy by challenging in an efficient manner what is being said by the main stream media. Today, there are so many sources to get the latest news from but since many of them conceptually disagree with each other it is nice to see the satiric approach from comedy news journalists. They commonly pinpoint fallacious ideas that are being presented to major public and are not afraid to ridicule them. It is a very powerful tool against misinformation and it is an efficient tool because they can attack the fallacious idea directly without the fear of being politically incorrect. Another aspect to consider is the fact that today 90% of all media in the US is owned by six big corporations[1]. This means that news can be dictated and something that can hurt sponsors will not go on air. Therefore, diversification of news delivery system has evolved. Many online websites do satirical covers of political, economical and social news. This certainly gives people a chance to develop media literacy which helps to spot biased information that gets presented to them.

[1] “These 6 Corporations Control 90% Of The Media In America.” //Business Insider//. Accessed March 17, 2014. http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6.

=8. References= “News Satire.” //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//, March 15, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=News_satire&oldid=594824750.

“America Is a Joke.” //NYMag.com//. Accessed March 16, 2014. http://nymag.com/arts/tv/profiles/68086/index1.html.

“The Real Jon Stewart on ‘the Jon Stewart of Egypt.’” Accessed March 17, 2014. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-real-jon-stewart-on-the-jon-stewart-of-egypt/.

“These 6 Corporations Control 90% Of The Media In America.” //Business Insider//. Accessed March 17, 2014. http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6.