Final Blog

Jon Stewart - The Man of Truth?

The citizens of the United States of America have been dependent on mainstream television news outlets such as FOX News and CNN to report truthful, reliable, and interesting newscasts. These channels provide a source of truthful information – that is, truthful to the standards of the news writers. Political bias has always been an issue when dealing with important, essential, and life-changing information. In an essay discussing Media/Political Bias, the author mentions how “there is no such thing as an objective point of view.” ‘Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,’ even though filled with bias, tries to confront the biases and claims demonstrated though these other news outlets.

The date is April 27th, 2009, and the infamous swine flu is discussed for the first time on ‘The Daily Show.’ Originally, this episode was supposed to discuss Barack Obama’s 100th day as president. Instead, due to the inflammation of information regarding the misconceptions and claims of swine flu, ‘The Daily Show’ reported “The Last 100 Days.” This title is a satirical representation that shows how the mainstream media blow everything out of proportion. In this episode, Jon Stewart discusses the “Snoutbreak of ’09.” In this “Snoutbreak,” he discusses the mainstream media’s claim of a pandemic and the 149 deaths in Mexico. He comically shows that the swine flu is last on the “list of the things that will kill you in Mexico.” It is placed under “Piñata accident.” This is ‘The Daily Show’s’ interpretation that the swine flu is not as deadly and lethal as the public believes. The public follow what the mainstream media reports. This brought intense fear of the swine flu; Fox News said that the White House declared a public health emergency and mentioned a New York Prep School epidemic that would spread from the Prep School to the rest of New York and CNN said the strain was fast moving, that the death toll was rising, questioned the possibility of a pandemic, and claimed that tens of millions of people would die if the swine flu wasn’t stopped. This brings people to an automatic fear that inhibits their ability to think rationally and research the situation. Jon Stewart referred to this as a “scare-off;” he jokingly asserted that the media are competing to scare the public the most.

There are benefits and limits to each style of news casting. Mainstream media present the information as soon as it happens in the form of “Breaking News.” While this provides the public with fast information, it is not always reliable; many outlets are more concerned with being the first to cover the information rather than double checking their sources. Also, each channel is biased towards certain views (Conservative, Liberal) so people can choose the channel that streams information they want to hear. This may hinder reality. On the other hand, Jon Stewart presents information after the event has been established; Jon Stewart satirically comments on the claims of other news reports in order to establish his position. This position usually mocks the claims of the mainstream media. In “The Last 100 Days,” Jon Stewart jokingly emphasized, “can anyone top turning a fever and sore throat into a terrorist attack?” This further emphasizes the tendency of the media to “think before they speak;” they rarely let the event completely unfold before claiming facts.

What does it mean that ‘The Daily Show’ is presented by Comedy Central? Many mainstream news outlets are made to present fast and reliable (for the given moment) information. If they comically present information without a serious outlook, people would become frustrated; they want to know what is going on in the world; they are not watching some comedy show. That comedy show is ‘The Daily Show.’ In Rachel Smolkin’s article “What the Mainstream Media Can Learn from Jon Stewart,” Smolkin writes “'The Daily Show' doesn't have to worry about balance. They don't have to worry about accuracy, even. They can just sort of get at the essence of something, so it gives them much more latitude to play around with the information, to make it more engaging.” The fact that ‘The Daily Show’ is presented as a comedy show gives it an unfair advantage; they can make mockeries and claims without serious consequences. Ironically, this comedy set up allows for more truth to be revealed; they can joke about something serious without getting in trouble because “it’s just a comedy show.” Other mainstream news media outlets have to filter out some information because they do not want to cause a ruckus. Mainstream news media outlets present “the truth” in a serious matter; joking is not respected. ‘The Daily Show’ presents beyond the mediated truth; they are able to do this because the public can “laugh the truth off.” After all, it is a comedy show.

If ‘The Daily Show’ bases its ideas off of the mainstream media, isn’t it hindering in itself? Since the media present information that is not the whole and honest truth, is ‘The Daily Show’ a comedy show built upon biases and distorted reality? While ‘The Daily Show’ tries to present truth in a comedic-relief style, some truths still cannot be revealed, even with the aid of comedy. It is kind of ironic that ‘The Daily Show’ makes a mockery of the bias implemented in mainstream media when the show itself is built upon and grows from these biases. It therefore is just a bias in itself. Maybe an objective point of view is impossible to obtain through the media.

Sources:

Snoutbreak '09
The Last 100 Days
CNNLive
CNN Doing All We Can?
FOXNews Swine Scare
FOXNews What is Swine Flu
Media/Political Bias Essay
Smolkin Essay