The Stewart / Colbert Effect: Essays on the Real Impacts of Fake News

207 Pages·2011·4.239 MB·English

by  Amarnath Amarasingam, Robert W. McChesney

The Stewart/Colbert Effect
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The Stewart/Colbert
Effect
Essays on the Real Impacts
of Fake News
Edited by
A A
MARNATH MARASINGAM
Foreword by ROBERT W. MCCHESNEY
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
The Stewart/Colbert effect : essays on the real impacts of
fake news / edited by Amarnath Amarasingam ;
foreword by Robert W. McChesney.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-5886-8
softcover : 50# alkaline paper
1. Daily show (Television program) 2. Colbert report
(Television program) 3. Television comedies—United States—
History and criticism. 4. Television comedies—United
States—Influence. 5. Television and politics—United States.
6. Television news programs—Parodies, imitations, etc.
7. Political satire, American—History and criticism.
I. Amarasingam, Amarnath.
PN1992.77.D28S74 2011
791.45'617—dc22 2011012956
BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
© 2011Amarnath Amarasingam. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, i ncluding photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without p ermission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: Poster art for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear
on October 30, 2010, at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
For my parents
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Table of Contents
Foreword by Robert W. McChesney 1
Preface 3
Introduction: Surveying Scholarship on The Daily Show and
The Colbert Report
JOSH COMPTON 9
PART I. NEW RESEARCH ON THE DAILY SHOW AND
THE COLBERT REPORT
The Science of Satire: The Daily Show and The Colbert Report as
Sources of Public Attention to Science and the Environment
LAUREN FELDMAN, ANTHONY LEISEROWITZ, and
EDWARD MAIBACH 25
Making Sense of The Daily Show: Understanding the Role of
Partisan Heuristics in Political Comedy Effects
MICHAEL A. XENOS, PATRICIA MOY, and AMY B. BECKER 47
Stoned Slackers or S uper-C itizens? The Daily Show Viewing and
Political Engagement of Young Adults
JODY C. BAUMGARTNER and JONATHAN S. MORRIS 63
Is Fake News the Real News? The Significance of Stewart and
Colbert for Democratic Discourse, Politics, and Policy
MARK K. MCBETH and RANDY S. CLEMONS 79
Jon Stewart a Heretic? Surely You Jest: Political Participation
and Discussion Among Viewers of L ate-N ight Comedy
Programming
DANNAGAL GOLDTHWAITE YOUNG and SARAH E. ESRALEW 99
vii
viii Table of Contents
PART II. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Irony and the News: Speaking Through Cool to American Youth
RICHARD VAN HEERTUM 117
Wise Fools: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as M odern-D ay
Jesters in the American Court
JULIA R. FOX 136
I Am the Mainstream Media (and So Can You!)
ROBERT T. TALLY, JR. 149
It’s All About Meme: The Art of the Interview and the Insatiable
Ego of the Colbert Bump
KEVIN A. WISNIEWSKi 164
Real Ethical Concerns and Fake News: The Daily Show and the Challenge
of the New Media Environment
BRUCE A. WILLIAMS and MICHAEL X. DELLI CARPINI 181
About the Contributors 193
Index 197
Foreword by
Robert W. McChesney
In the fall of 2000 Ralph Nader’s presidential campaign as the Green
Party candidate was in full swing. In September he came to Madison, Wis-
consin, where I was living at the time, to make a speech before a packed hour
of some 2,000 people. Before the speech, he held a fundraising event for his
strongest supporters across the street from the theater. Traveling with Nader
and giving w arm-u p talks at the fundraiser were Phil Donahue, the TV talk
show host, and Michael Moore, the film maker. Moore was the lead- in to
Nader and his talk brought down the house was his trademark wit and humor.
When Nader grabbed the microphone from Moore, the audience was already
giddy, hooting and hollering, and ready for more.
“I love great political humor as much as anyone,” Nader began, “and
there is little doubt that we live in times when there is tremendous political
humor.” Nader then proceeded to describe a long trip he had taken to the
Soviet Union in the early 1960s so he could see firsthand what life was like
under communism. “There was the best underground political humor and
satire I have ever seen. It was so striking and so well received because the
official journalism was so atrocious and discredited.”
I have long thought Nader’s assessment can be applied to understanding
and situating the “fake news” phenomenon of Jon Stewart and Stephen Col-
bert. It is brilliant humor, to be sure, but it is based to a certain extent on
how atrocious the official journalism of our times has become. Stewart and
Colbert do not need to adopt the asinine professional practices of mainstream
journalism, especially the requirement to regurgitate with a straight face what-
ever people in power say, and only allow credible dissidence when it comes
from other people in power. If pro- corporate right- wing hacks like Glenn
Beck or Sean Hannity can get people to talk about something preposterous,
it becomes a legitimate news story, empirical evidence be damned. Stewart
1