Week 3: Funny Ha-Ha?

Most academics would agree that the role of a journalist in a democratic society is to provide citizens with a factual and representative account of events, in a way that facilitates the enlightened understanding essential to informed self-governance. When it comes to such government dominated affairs as foreign policy, the role of the journalist becomes infinitely more complicated, as “trying to tell the truth about people whose job it is to hide the truth is almost as … difficult as trying to hide it in the first place” (Moyers). Born of this complexity is an ancillary role of critical analysis; journalists must solve the maze of self-serving, government manufactured realities to uncover truth and expose propaganda, thereby bringing understanding to an even higher level. Though difficult, some journalists, emerge triumphant... and so do some comedians.


In 2007, when the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press (PRCPP) asked Americans to name the journalist they most admired, comedian Jon Stewart came in fourth on the list. Stewart, the host of The Daily Show, a satirical news show on Comedy Central, tied with well-established journalists like Anderson Cooper and Dan Rather. The study was conducted as part of the PRCPP's weekly News Interest Index, which investigates the relationship between the public's attention to major news stories and the media's news agenda, in conjunction with The Project for Excellence in Journalism's News Coverage Index, which monitors media content (PRCPP, 2007). The PRCPP's (2007) researchers attribute the unexpected appearance of a self-proclaimed reporter of "fake news" among America's most admired journalists to the "increasingly fragmented media landscape" that detracts from the prominence of leading journalists, as well as the "myriad choices news consumers have today." In an article commenting on the results, the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism (2008) wonders if--and why--viewers might be confused about the nature of Stewart's "reporting," asking how the show is "similar to, and different from, what people get from the mainstream press." In an attempt to answer some of these questions, the Project for Excellence in Journalism went on to study the content of The Daily Show, comparing and contrasting it with the news agenda of mainstream media outlets.

One reason Stewart may have ranked among more serious journalists is that the "news" agenda of The Daily Show closely matches that of mainstream cable news talk shows--in content and nature. In content, Stewart shares the mainstream news's enthusiasm for focusing largely on government related and political subjects like foreign affairs, Washington politics, and other government- or politics-related subjects (Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2008). Something can be said for the way in which Stewart approaches stories he covers. Stewart is often successful in avoiding some of the fragmentation and ambiguity found in real news sources. By using broader frames, with aspects of power distribution, political motivation, and historical context, he demonstrates an ability to employ a holistic approach that enhances viewer's understanding of the story itself, as well as its relationship to other stories and events.

Stewart may also be admirable from a journalistic perspective because he takes time to explain why a story matters--or why it doesn't. The meaning of a story can often elude the viewer, lost amidst a labyrinth of facts, quotations, statistics, and political jargon. For the story to accomplish its purpose of telling the reader something about the world, the meaning may need to be brought manually to the surface. Of course, not all stories that make the news are, in the utilitarian sense of the word, news. This, too, Stewart makes clear: "“Yes! Finally captured Martha Stewart. You know, with all the massive and almost completely unpunished fraud perpetrated on the American public by such companies as Enron, Global Crossing, Tyco and Adelphia, we finally got the ringleader. Maybe now we can lower the nation's terror alert to periwinkle.” According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism (2008), Stewart spends more than double the amount of time of regular news sources commenting on the press itself. 

However, Stewart has also been found to neglect would-be important stories. But as such selective reporting is observed across most, if not all, media outlets, this is a tendency that is unlikely to surprise--or even be noticed by--many Americans. For example, Robert Jensen (2010) recalls the anti-war actions of February 2003 in response to the upcoming U.S. invasion of Iraq. "At least 10 million people participated worldwide," Jensen (2010) recalls, "with a clear message for the Bush administration: The invasion being planned is illegal and immoral, and we reject not only this war but your right to use violence to achieve your political and economic goals." Although these constituted the largest organized protests in the history of mankind, the protestors' message was compelling and relevant, and the story was timely and likely to interest viewers, the protests went largely unreported in mainstream media sources. There was a media blackout, many speculate, resulting from pressure from government officials. Demonstrating this same nature of selective story selection, The Daily Show often neglects to cover important and timely pieces, like the shootings at Virginia Tech. Like mainstream news, Stewart's agenda is also affected by political ideology. According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism (2008), republicans were targeted in Stewart's jokes three times as often as democrats, with the Bush Administrating being the focus in nearly 22% of the segments. While republicans and democrats appeared as guests with similar frequency, researchers speculated that Republicans were subject to harsher criticism (Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2008). Of course, being not a reporter, but rather a comedian, it may be unrealistic to hold Stewart to such standards of journalism.  The Project for Excellence in Journalism (2008) notes that "Stewart has always insisted that his show isn’t journalism and given its comedic core, its blurring of truth and fiction, and its ignoring of many major events, that is true in a traditional sense," which is often reflected in Stewart's own assertions: “But we are at war, and we here at The Daily Show will do our best to keep you informed ... Of course, our show is obviously at a disadvantage compared to the many news sources that we're competing with… at a disadvantage in several respects. For one thing, we are fake. They are not. So in terms of credibility we are, well, oddly enough, actually about even. We're about even.”

Another factor that may add to American's respect for Stewart as a journalist is his tendency to deepen understanding by contradicting and questioning spurious government claims. The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism (2008) observes that "at times, The Daily Show aims at more than comedy. In its choice of topics, [and] its use of news footage to deconstruct the manipulations by public figures ... The Daily Show performs a function that is close to journalistic in nature—getting people to think critically about the public square." Thinking critically is absolutely essential to the well-being of a democratic society, and is nearly impossible when official statements are thought to lend an air of authority and used to evidence a well-investigated story, rather than treated as claims to be considered carefully, themselves necessitating thorough investigation . Another comedian, Bill Maher, quips that the U.S. “is like a college chick after two Long Island Iced Teas: we can be talked into anything…” (Maher). Although it is usually politicians who do the talking, it is important for journalists to be shrewd since they are the medium through which official statements reach the citizens. Equal to this task, Stewart does not blindly accept the assumptions of political rhetoric: "Yesterday, the president met with a group he calls the coalition of the willing. Or, as the rest of the world calls them, Britain and Spain." Nor does he thoughtlessly proliferate official proclamations or treat them as badges of credibility; instead he carefully weighs such statements against verifiable evidence: "So, is there hope for a truly democratic Africa? Long answer: Only if continent-wide improvements in education, human rights and public health are coupled with an aggressive and far-sighted debt-relief program that breaks the cycle of subsistence farming and urban squalor. Short answer: No."

All in all, there are many good reasons for citizens to respect Stewart as an actual journalist. By virtue of his agenda that mimics those of "real" news shows, his investigative treatment of official proclamations, and many other factors, Stewart is considered a valuable source of information by many Americans. On the other hand, it may be of concern that our "real" news machines are not putting out a product that is more difficult to compete with. More than simply illuminating the important contribution of popular culture to citizens' enlightened understanding, Stewart's ranking among prominant journalists may also serve to alert us to a crisis in our main source of civic information.

References

Jensen, R. (2010). Projecting power or promoting peace. Texas Observer. Retrieved from http://www.texasobserver.org/oped/projecting-power-or-promoting-peace-the-prophetic-call-for-justice-kindness-humility

Maher, B. (2009).  New rule: Smart president doesn't equal smart country. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/‌bill-maher/‌new-rule-smart-president_b_253996.html

Pew Research Center For the People & the Press. (2007). Today's journalists less prominent. Retrieved from http://people-press.org/2007/03/08/todays-journalists-less-prominent/

ThinkExist.Com. (2010). Jon Stewart Quotes. Retreived from http://thinkexist.com/quotes/jon_stewart/2.html

Some other Jon Stewart Quotes...

[All quotes by Stewart were retrieved from ThinkExist.Com (2010)]
Religion
"Yes, reason has been a part of organized religion, ever since two nudists took dietary advice from a talking snake."

Race
"Pigmentation was a quick and convenient way of judging a person. One of us, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once proposed we instead judge people by the content of their character. He was shot."

Homosexuality

“Why can't they have gay people in the army? Personally, I think they are just afraid of a thousand guys with M16s going, 'Who'd you call a faggot?'”

Human Nature
"It's funny. When we were alive we spent much of our time staring up at the cosmos and wondering what was out there. We were obsessed with the moon and whether we could one day visit it. The day we finally walked on it was celebrated worldwide as perhaps man's greatest achievement. But it was while we were there, gathering rocks from the moon's desolate landscape, that we looked up and caught a glimpse of just how incredible our own planet was. Its singular astonishing beauty. We called her Mother Earth. Because she gave birth to us, and then we sucked her dry."