Satirical shows popular with students
- posted: 06 Nov. 2007
- scrollnews@byui.edu
When it comes to young adults being informed, journalists and educators everywhere are worried. “This is not funny: Jon Stewart and his hit Comedy Central cable show may be poisoning democracy,” wrote Washington Post columnist Richard Morin in 2006.
A recent study conducted by East Carolina University found that young adults may be more interested in shows like Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show on Comedy Central than hard news programs.
The study found that 48 percent of college students watch The Daily Show.
Only 23 percent of the same age group follows “hard news” programs closely, according to Morin’s column, “Unconventional Wisdom.”
“I am concerned that college students generally have little knowledge of, and interest in, current events,” said Ron Bennett, communication department chair. “I believe that an uninformed, apathetic populace makes us vulnerable as a society.”
Bennett said that while watching Jay Leno’s monologue or a fake news show is better than nothing, it is still not good enough.
“I suspect that those who ignore TV news probably ignore newspaper news and Internet news as well. And that’s just really unfortunate,” Bennett said.
Students may lack interest in current events because they believe that real news shows are boring.
“I really do like The Daily Show, because not only is it entertaining and humorous, but it actually gets you caught up on current events,” said Paige Tice, a junior studying psychology.
Tice still feels that the show does not make someone an informed person.
“I still watch the regular news though. Not to mention all of Jon Stewart’s liberal viewpoints, [The Daily Show] is always one-sided,” Tice said.
Jon Stewart said his show is not based on the potential reactions of viewers.
“We don’t ever think, ‘Well, how’s that going to play at Theta Delta Kai,’” Stewart said in an interview with talk show host Charlie Rose. “I don’t understand their world anyway.”
A recent Saturday Night Live show included a fake weekend news update about FEMA representative who lost a promotion for a fake news conference on the California wildfires.
In addition, Stephen Colbert announced a fake candidacy for president on Oct. 16 and appeared on Meet The Press to promote his campaign, which he abandoned Nov. 5.
“I don’t mind that TV news is trying to be relevant to viewers not on the AARP’s mailing list,” wrote Los Angeles Times writer Jonah Goldberg. “What I find dismaying is that ‘relevance’ is literally coming at the expense of reality.” 
