Friday, January 19, 2007
Fake news is better than no news, according to a synopsis of a study recently published in the Columbia Journalism Review. In fact, the fake news may even serve as a gateway, if you will, to people trying, er, reading, actual news.
The story says people watching shows like "The Daily Show" or Leno need context to get all the in jokes. So it's more likely that the people watching them will also be watching the evening news, just to figure out what it means when Jon Stewart makes fun of President Bush's press secretary.
That means there's hope for my friends who tell me that Stewart is, in fact, their ONLY source of news. They must be lying slightly. None of it would make sense if they were completely ignorant of current events, so the fact that they must be sneaking hits of real news off a Web site or paper someone left on the bus makes that knife they're twisting in the heart of my industry a little more blunt.
But maybe we're not even allowed to enjoy Stewart, as writer Courtney E. Martin contends. Maybe Stewart is just making us apathetic and blase.
But I don't agree. There's truth in humor, and people gravitate to the truth. And we need to laugh. Everything's so dire. The only way we're gonna beat the bastards is by being funnier.
The story says people watching shows like "The Daily Show" or Leno need context to get all the in jokes. So it's more likely that the people watching them will also be watching the evening news, just to figure out what it means when Jon Stewart makes fun of President Bush's press secretary.
That means there's hope for my friends who tell me that Stewart is, in fact, their ONLY source of news. They must be lying slightly. None of it would make sense if they were completely ignorant of current events, so the fact that they must be sneaking hits of real news off a Web site or paper someone left on the bus makes that knife they're twisting in the heart of my industry a little more blunt.
But maybe we're not even allowed to enjoy Stewart, as writer Courtney E. Martin contends. Maybe Stewart is just making us apathetic and blase.
But I don't agree. There's truth in humor, and people gravitate to the truth. And we need to laugh. Everything's so dire. The only way we're gonna beat the bastards is by being funnier.
Labels: Jon Stewart fake news journalism
