Page 316 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

News Sat re: Comedy Central and Beyond |

Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination (April 2005) at http://www.freepress.net/docs/
timwu.pdf.
Steve Anderson

news satire: CoMedy Central and Beyond

Can we connect the rise in popularity of news satire programs like The Daily
Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report to reported lows in news con-
sumption from traditional news programs among American youth, and if so,
how? Critics of news satires contend that they engender cynicism and with-
drawal from meaningful politics, offering a poor substitute for the news, while
supporters see them as accessible supplements, offering contextualization of
the news, critical media literacy skills, and hence a helpful addition to our daily
news consumption.
At day’s end, as millions of Americans ponder their choices for an evening’s
entertainment and/or for receiving the nightly news, in recent years an unlikely
pair of competitors have been added to the mix: Comedy Central’s The Daily
Show with Jon Stewart (1999–) and The Colbert Report (2005–). Both shows deal
with current news, but in a satiric-parodic manner, poking fun at newscasters,
analyzing and commenting on sound bites and newsclips, subjecting newsmak-
ers to lampooning and silly interviews, and yet also frequently offering a sub-
stantive critique both of news delivery and of the topics under discussion. Jon
Stewart and Stephen Colbert have staged something of a coup in the realm of

Jon stewart on crossfire

A lightning rod event that threw Stewart and his love-hate relationship with traditional
news into the very center of the spotlight was his appearance on CNN’s now-defunct Cross-
fire (1982–2005) in 2004. Three years later, the clip of this appearance remained one of the
most requested and watched television moments on Internet sites ifilm.com and YouTube.
com, with nearly 4 million views at ifilm alone. Hosts Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson invited
him onto their one-a-Democrat/one-a-Republican show, no doubt expecting Stewart the
funnyman to appear; rather, Stewart opened by imploring them, as representatives of
mainstream news media coverage, to “stop hurting America.” Stewart objected to the
divisiveness, and spurious desire to reduce any and all matters to an argument, promoted
by Crossfire and other programs of its ilk. Calling such a format “theater” and “hackery,”
Stewart received significant applause and support from the in-studio audience. His appear-
ance also inspired intense discussion on blogs and at watercoolers across the country about
the appropriateness of his comments, but more so, about the appropriateness of debate
shows such as Crossfire and Hannity and Colmes (Fox News Channel, 1996–). It marked a
rare moment in which a guest of a news show openly and without restraint challenged the
very format of a news show, and thus, given the experimental format of The Daily Show
itself, Stewart’s appearance had many talking about what news shows should look like.