Journalism for the 21st Century: The Jon Stewart Effect

[purejuice]

In the 1970s, Sander Vanocur told me something I've been thinking about ever since. The political satire in Johnny Carson's monologue, he said, defined heartland political issues

Comments

[th3_s1kh_g33k]

One of the amazing and sickening aspects of the Lee Atwater documentary was how he, and his peers, all viewed politics and elections as a game. Intense, high stakes, cut-throat, and heavy, but ultimately, a game. At the end of the day it was about winning, me versus you, and what does this match bring my record up to.

The Sunday morning network shows are filled with not only insiders, but the jargon and concerns of insider baseball.

The vast majority of people in this country either care about politics as politics, or they don't care about it at all, but the never care about it as they type of jaded horserace.

As every stand-up comic who started out as a bullied child on the playground knows, humor can cut through anything and everything. Jokes can score a date to the prom and the laughter of a group of kids can decimate the toughest jock.

Did Ross Perot play a decent Cassandra about NAFTA and GATT? Doesn't matter. He was a sketch comic's dream, and once you're a joke, you're nobody in politics.Reply

[purejuice]

humor is a major survivor strategy of resilient children. one shrink explained it as the technique of making nothing out of Something.

[purejuice]

thank you, great link as usual.

[aliceinfinland]

It's earlier than the Millennials. I think of the Stewart genre starting with Saturday Night Live Weekend Update and NBC News Overnight, which we Gen-Xers grew up on. By the time we were old enough to skip family dinner, it was not necessarily true that we had seen the television news presented (supposedly) straight by Huntley-Brinkley or similar before watching the oblique version.

[purejuice]

good point, thank you. how do you want to see politics covered?