Satirical News Report

Having served nearly thirty years at CBS News, Mr. Goldberg had earned a reputation as one of the most original writers and thinkers in broadcast journalism. However, when he observed his own industry, he realized the liberal media had completely missed their mission to give honest news. After years of sharing his observations and promoting more balanced reportings, Goldberg soon realized that no one listened because they believed they were doing the right thing. The liberal bias continued, therefore Bernard Goldberg decided to take the situation into his own hands and expose the distortion of the media himself. Goldberg’s breathtaking and shocking best seller book, Bias, reveals the close-mindedness of the news culture and their mission to entertain rather than share facts.

In the study, each source was ranked based on the political leanings of its audience. As a result, it ranked sources such as Buzzfeed more liberal than average while it ranked sources such as the Rush Limbaugh Show more conservative than average. However, none of the sources earned a perfectly neutral ranking (Wormald). The correlation between news sources and their audience’s political leanings becomes interesting when compared to the type of content each news source produces. Rush Limbaugh, for example, is infamous for his conservative rhetoric, whereas Buzzfeed is known for its lighthearted quizzes and comical representation of liberal politics. This reveals something about our perception of truth: biased sources allow individuals to ‘select’ the truth. When conflicting information is pushed to the side, it becomes nonexistent. Subsequently, the sum of partial truths interpreted by an individual becomes a whole truth in their mind, especially when partial truths are reinforced by mainstream media sources such as Buzzfeed or the Rush Limbaugh Show. This is harmful because, as Lewis implied, the entire truth is lost in this process and mutual understanding becomes harder to

1. When Bill Moyers comments that Jon Stewart has “said many times, [I] don’t want to be a journalist,” what is Stewart’s response? Steward response was that he does not want to be a journalist and that he is not a Journalist.2. What does it mean to “function as a sort of editorial cartoon”? What does Stewart mean when he says that “we [the show] are a digestive process”? It Means that him and his staff work to illustrate, exaggerate, or make fun of certain topics in hopes. So therefore him and his staff really has to know what they’re doing. Because this is a form of social and political commentary. The staff breaks down complex or confusing government/political news and present it to the public.3. Why might “the young people who work for [Moyers] think they get better journalism from [Stewart] than from Sunday

He claims that while The Daily Show is a humorous broadcasting show, that it is “‘unburdened by objectivity”’ but still advises large groups of America about “foreign and national news events” (Zinsler 365-6). Zinsler then goes to Matthew Baum’s study that claims the daily viewers of “fake” news broadcasting are more aware than those that do not watch the programs (370). Baum’s views, had, in fact, had been proved by a “2004 National Annenberg Election Study” that stated The Daily Show viewers were able to correctly answer more questions that those of national television viewers (Zinsler 370). Zinsler’s claims of logos, and those studies from Baum and Anneberg, go to prove, that whether one believes it is beneficial or disadvantageous to watch “fake” news programs, studies have proven that those who get their information from the media, such as The Daily Show, have been able to interpret the information

In our fast paced world, the media plays an integral part in our lives. As a result, personalities such as Rush Limbaugh and Bill Maher have a greater influence on our society. There are some that may rely on them as their sole source of news. However, it is important

Often media broadcasters tend to lean to this side, therefore giving them the image of being liberally bias. Chris Mathews and Keith Oberman from MSNBC are two examples of broadcasters that have been accused of delivering their news with a liberal twist to it. Journalists tend to vote on the liberal side of situations, but still say that while they are on the job they only tell the news in the fairest way and the way that will be least offensive as well as respectful to who it will be presented. In many cases however, this report can come out with an oddly left sided tone (thatliberalmedia.com). Since 1991 when Katie Couric became co-host of NBC’s Today Show, she has used her powerful spot in the media to praise significant liberal figures such as Hillary Clinton and Jimmy Carter. At the same time however, Couric has never been shy about complaining about “right winged conservatives”

According to the book Celebrity Politics, approximately 10 percent of Americans get national political news from nightly entertainment shows such as the Tonight Show. For Americans under 30, the number is nearly five times as many (Orman and West 100). Citizens are looking to be entertained rather than simply educated by the nightly news. As David Schultz aptly put it, “ The new media cover politics, but only politics as it entertains, in part, because the audience the new media attract is a less politically interested audience than traditional news audiences” (20). The fact is that this American audience is less interested in hard news and more interested in

In today’s world, the media seems to shape the mindset of society and its people. Whether the media is a news anchor, a newspaper, or even a website- it unintentionally makes the people think a certain way towards the world. The news is supposed to be unbiased. However, Jon Stewart turned this whole news gig into a whole new meaning. Jon was very bias in most situations, but he also was a comedian. With that being said, he used his humor on The Daily Show to get the news out to the public, and he gained viewers by being funny. After watching, “Jon Stewart's Story: How the Fake Newsman Won Over America” argued many points, showed both real and fake news, and what Stewart’s goals actually were.

Similar to what Dana Stevens is taking about in finding credibility in a television like 24, Jason Zinser looks at this question in his article, “The Good, the Bad, and The Daily Show.”. Zinser addresses both the benefits and downfalls of television, but ultimately ends up taking a stand somewhere in the middle of how t.v. is both good and bad for people. Zinser’s believes that The Daily Show can be used as a starting point from which people can gain an understanding of current events but it’s not the most useful way. He claims that this type of information people gain from watching a comedy news show can be both useful but damaging. The question that needs to be addressed though, is why does it matter where people are gaining their knowledge about the world and critical events as long as they are gaining some knowledge from what they’re watching. As Zinser states, “An informed public is the grease that keeps democracy running properly. Although foreign and domestic issues aren’t settled by popular vote, an informed public wields great democratic power”. It doesn’t matter whether information comes from a comedy news show or from a hard hitting formal newscast, any information that a person gains from television is far better than receiving no information at all, because if the public is informed about the news in the world they have an understanding of it and could possibly make decision about things

In the documentary “Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War On Journalism”, Fox News began as a seemingly innocent, right-winged, news channel, with the slogan “We Report. You Decide.” However, as time moved on from the first airing of the news channel, it was as if Fox had followed a more biased and corrupted route than what had been proposed. It primarily discusses how Fox News, and perhaps other popular media news outlets, have begun to actively misinform their viewers for personal or business gain. Originally, Rupert Murdoch, a news corporation CEO, was deemed as the overall instructor of what was to be represented on the Fox outlet. However, at the time of his ownership, the news outlet was said to have had “zero news value.” Therefore, as Roger Ailes, a former media strategist for several Republican presidential campaigns, joined, and inevitably took over the channel, Fox News began to “evolve” into something called “fair and balanced” news reporting. Unfortunately, “fair and balanced” was far from the truth. In fact, after several examinations performed by both journalists and former Fox News contributors, it was discovered Fox News had been continuously using sinister tricks, such as

As John Oliver airs his weekly program, “Last Week Tonight”, he educates viewers on relevant issues, and incorporates factual evidence along with his opinion. He uses both horatian and juvenalian satire in order to

The Daily Show is based on recent news stories, politics, pop culture and so on. Actually, they try to describe news humorously. This episode named “End times’’ was broadcast on June 10, 2009. For me, this show was highly effective because of the theme selection. After watching this show, I realiazed even though we live in the age of technology where we can find everything on internet, some people still live in an old age. For example, people are still reading the newspaper in print, although now you can read it online. The newspaper is quite an obsolete thing and I wonder why people still pay for old mention of reading the news. For example, a correspondent of The Daily Show, Jason Jones, asked a trick questions to the editor asking him to

News programs have been changing and always will be changing. 60 minutes once a news program with minimal drama and lots of information has now turned into a beast hungry for drama with minimal information. This change in society has turned news anchors into television celebrity’s, and they’re loving the attention. The television show 60 minutes is the oldest and most watched news entertainment program. They get the ‘real story’ on Americas most horrific issues. 60 minutes’ topics include, politics, pop culture, health, science and business. The show itself airs on CBS news, each episode is an hour long and contains lots entertainment although at one point strived for mostly informative news. The news program was originally created by Don Hewitt, and was ranked one of the best news series of all time. There have been many news anchors throughout the years including, Steve Kroft, Lara Logan, Scott Pelley, Morley Safer, Lesley Stahl, and the most current anchor Bill Whitaker. Although the show might seem like a very informative, well rounded news station, people don’t realize what they are really tuning into. 60 minutes has turned into a news magazine who strives for stories that overwhelm the audiences with distracting graphics, lots of emotional issues and pointless stories that shouldn’t be covered as informative or important, but should only be used as entertainment purposes.

One recent case where the mass media poked fun at and satirized the government was the year 2000 election. In the time where ballots and votes became confused and the state of Florida became the punch-line to many a water cooler joke, shows such as the ones above took the story and ran with it. From the very beginning the satire of political figures played its role in the election. According to the Washington Post and the Pew Research Center, 47 percent of Americans under the age of 30 receive around 26% of their information about candidates, amongst other political matters, through late night comedy television. This trend has been labeled by many “Infotainment.” The viewers are receiving information about political issues and their government, but through a sarcastic or humorous filter that creates a different culture of informed citizens.

TV Journalism has been degraded to the point in which true factual and informative reporting free of bias has been replaced with short news bytes centered and focused on its entertainment value alone. Within the political process, this has mostly served as a disservice to both politicians and the general public audience.