Watching the News with a Grain of Salt: Political Satires

With ratings through the roof and rising for many comedic news programs, many are wondering just how endangered traditional news has become, and why.

John Stewart’s The Daily Show is now the highest watched “news show” in America. I keep that in quotes because the show is a self proclaimed satire here to shake up the world of boring, all info- news reporting. Just check out their about section which clearly defines the premise by stating their motto at the end,

‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart — it’s even better than being informed.’

The Daily Show is followed closely by its companion The Colbert Report. The show follows the same premise, presenting news with an obviously biased, humorist tone. The Colbert Report seems to take itself more seriously than the Daily Show, which makes it even funnier in my opinion. Simply compare the head shots of the two faux anchors on their respective sites. john Stewart allows a faint smile to play on his lips as the American flag waves proudly behind him letting you know that not even he takes politics too seriously, while Stephen Colbert is stern and serious, his eyes raised to the heavens and his jaw firmly set. A man truly dedicated to his craft.

These are not the only two satirical news organizations around. There is the infamous The Onion, confusing people for decades. With its daily free publication donning a realistic news style format, the paper is apt to fool anyone who has not heard of it. My own mother placed an ad to rent out an apartment in the paper, not knowing it was all a joke. The Onions stories are based on fact at times, yet completely chopped and screwed. The paper borders on fiction, which is why it aggravates me that it is even considered a news source. I’ve never seen the appeal in reading a newspaper that is not only uninformative but misleading. Just browse through some of the articles, and you’ll see what I mean. The Onion however has a huge cult following and many books in print, so it does appeal to many people, but not this blogger.

So what does it say about the American public that more people get their facts from these sources as opposed to the ever reliable cable newscasts like CNN or my personal favorite MSNBC?

I think it says that Americans are fed up with scare tactics and hidden agendas. This is the post Bushera. We are tired of the lies and the cover ups, and we are ready for the truth, without your spin. Take a look at leading news giants Fox News and their creation, the abominable Bill O’Reilly . It is reported in the book Fair and Balanced, My Assby Joseph Minton Amann and Tom Bruer that a whopping 97% of O’Reillys stories contain his opinion, compared to 24% on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews. So even the professional news media cant avoid being a little biased, why not watch the satires who are unapologetic about being biased? I’d rather have a laugh with my daily dose of stock market crashes and overseas catastophies than be insulted by your opinion.

But hey, thats just my opinion.

John Stewart and Stephen Colbert