On June 22, 2015, the Daily Show with John Stewart aired "Wack Flag," an episode focused on the Charleston church shooting in South Carolina. In the beginning of the episode, Stewart introduces the topic by showing a controversial picture of the shooter, Dylann Roof, holding a confederate flag, and explaining how his white power manifesto and hate photos have surfaced since the attack. He attempts to answer why the young white male shooter chose to massacre nine black churchgoers in a Charleston church. Stewart's sarcastic response that racism may be the cause blatantly pokes fun at Fox News, as well as other news shows that seem to avoid the most logical explanation for the cause of the shooting. He then moves to clips of Fox News reporting on the shooting to not only give more insight on the shooting story itself, but to continue his satirical judgement of Fox. The clips involve news reporters expressing their disscontempt with how the media is obsessing over a tragedy to advance a narrative story. He provides more evidence of the same type of behavior by showing clips of Fox's reaction to the two cops shot in Ferguson, Missouri, in May, 2015. By showing these clips, Stewart concludes his point that Fox is doing exactly what they say disgusts them by, "using a tragedy to advance their liberal narrative." This conclusion transitions into Stewart exposing how obviously racist South Carolina is by providing the fact that the Confederate flag (a symbol for the confederate south that supported slavery and opposed emancipation) is prominently valued throughout the state. While there were states that were planning to ban the flag, South Carolina declared that they had to have 2/3 of the state vote to remove it before any immediate action could be taken. Stewart refers to South Carolina as "the Confederate Epcott" to humorously summarize his views on how ridiculous he thinks South Carolina is reacting to the controversy. To further his satirical rant, he introduces his correspondents Jessica Williams, a black female anchor, and Jordan Klepper, a white male anchor, to role-play typical racist American stereotypes. Williams argues that the flag is racially discriminating towards black Americans because of what it stands for, but Klepper purposely argues with everything she says. When Stewart repeats the argument that Williams made, Klepper agrees, which angers Williams. This interaction shows the audience a sarcastic interaction of how rude and ignorant racist people can be.
Personally, I believe the Daily Show, or a type of comedic news, is beneficial to society because it reaches a rising american audience of sarcastic and opinionated people. When it comes to watching/listening to news, I believe that there are three main types of audiences. The first would be the news-buffs, or the people that watch news broadcasts from Fox, CNN, NBC, etc. These are the people that sit in front of their televisions every night at the same time to listen to the news of the day, that rely on the newspaper for information, and take the issues in the world as they come, and for what they are. On the opposite end, there are people that take the news with a more satirical approach, or have to take the news in a light-hearted way in order to retain the change that is going on around them. Finally, there are those that do not listen to the news at all, and avoid being informed of the issues and changes that happen everyday in our society. Disregarding the people that choose to not be informed, I think it is important that the other two audiences have their need for news met accordingly. The main news broadcasters cover the serious audience, and have done so for years by televising newscasts and simply stating the information or news of the day. However, I have noticed that these newscasts have become more dramatized, and most of the news involves tragic stories that leave me feeling disappointed in society, or saddened by other people's circumstances. For the sarcastic audience, or people like myself, in order to get the most out of the news we need comic relief to process news happening in the world. Jon Stewart has touched on major issues, that is evident if you scroll through a list of the Daily Show's episodes. He covers the same material as major news broadcasters, but without the drama. Instead, comedic news takes on a different kind of personality, and humanizes real issues by making them more relatable. In my opinion, the news that we see on tv everyday is almost never positive, so it is difficult to watch serious issues broadcasted by serious people, and not feel disheartened by the end of it all. By allowing satire and comedy to intersect serious news, news shows like the Daily Show and the Colbert Report not only discuss the irony and obvious issues with world news stories, but they point out the flaws in society and human nature. This is something people with comical personalities can filter through and understand. I do not think that people are getting inaccurate news by choosing to watch one news station over another. People have to watch, read, or listen to news in a way that translates well for them, and for many people in this country, comedic news is a valued option.
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