Page 321 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

00 | News Sat re: Comedy Central and Beyond

laughing attention is the first tonic needed in a lengthy recovery period, and
he seeks to deliver and direct this attention weekly. More openly opinionated
than either Stewart or Colbert, Maher has adopted a more angry style that is
warmly appreciated by his fans, but that also keeps away many detractors. In-
deed, Maher illustrates the fine line between levity and seriousness that news
satire must walk, for Maher’s clearly stated libertarian-meets-liberal politics and
his off-the-cuff remarks have angered some viewers, even leading to an adver-
tiser boycott and the eventual cancellation of Politically Incorrect in 2002, fol-
lowing post-9/11 comments that some found to be offensive.

BEyonD ComEDy CEnTraL

Maher, Stewart, and Colbert could all be accused of preaching to the con-
verted, in that they tend to attract like-minded audiences, and thus one might
regard skeptically the notion that their political humor or media literacy prim-
ers have lasting importance. However, as in religion, perhaps “preaching to the
converted” is the most common form of preaching, concentrating on renewing
and reinvigorating the “faith” and conviction of the converted. Countless polls
reveal low levels of trust in journalists and in politicians, and yet many of us
revert to blind trust of them in many instances; the power of news satire, even
when reiterating the already known, then, may lie in its ability to offer remind-
ers of the severe problems with news and political rhetoric, and therefore of the
continuing need for vigilance and attention.
The popularity of news satire has clearly created a stir in the news community.
Stewart in particular was a frequent guest or topic of many traditional news
programs in 2004 especially, but beyond Stewart, several news channels have
experimented with adding humor and satiric commentary. Thus, for instance,
CNBC hired comedian Dennis Miller to mix news talk and comedy in his ill-
fated Dennis Miller (2004–05), while more successful has been MSNBC’s Count-
down with Keith Olbermann (2003–), whose host regularly mixes reporting
with impressions of popular culture figures, amusing graphics, and a generally
sardonic wit applied to most items. Therefore, albeit slowly and gingerly, news
satire is expanding into the news itself, no doubt setting the stage for another
round of debates regarding the future of news and the appropriateness of news
satire within that future.

see also Media and Citizenship; Media and Electoral Campaigns; Media Lit-
eracy; Political Documentary; Political Entertainment; Presidential Stagecraft
and Militainment; Public Opinion; Public Sphere; Ratings; Sensationalism, Fear
Mongering, and Tabloid Media.

Further reading: Bakalar, Nikolas, and Stephen Kock, eds. American Satire: An Anthology
of Writings from Colonial Times to Present. New York: Plume, 1997; Buckingham, David.
The Making of Politics: Young People, News and Politics. New York: Routledge, 2000;
Glynn, Kevin. Tabloid Culture: Trash Taste, Popular Power, and the Transformation of
American Television. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2000; Gray, Jonathan. Watch-
ing with The Simpsons: Television, Parody, and Intertextuality. New York: Routledge,