The Good The Bad And The Daily Show Analysis

Harvey T00197578
9/24/14
ENGL 1020 - 020
The Best of Late-Night
Television is often seen as a distraction for people to use to get away from the difficulties or anxieties of reality; though, what if television could be used to inform the public of changes to government policy and campaign details without nearly putting people to sleep? Shows like The Daily Show do just this, by adding a hint of humor to their long list of fact-based political arguments and stories, yet they are never cited as a credible source. Why do people assume that comedy news television is relevantly referred to as “trash” or “fake” news? To fully know and understand what makes these venues not only mandatory to society, but also beneficial to each individual, there
This may be due to the ever increasing chaotic culture of people’s lifestyles, or simply because of our built-in ability to not be able to sit in one place for too long. However, in “The Good, the Bad, and the Daily Show,” Jason Zinser continues on this subject, “The Daily Show delivers the news in a way better suited to our ever-shrinking attention spans. From this perspective, the show isn’t ‘converting’ viewers from traditional media venues, but rather informing an untapped segment of the population that would be uninformed otherwise” (Zinser 370). As time progresses, the shorter the attention span of man becomes due to the flashing arrows provided by the different aspects of the American experience. In an age where more people are stricken with ADD and ADHD, it’s easier to inform these individuals through humor than to force them to attempt to sit through, say, a political conference meeting, or anything that requires much focus or critical thinking skills. Furthermore, the idea of anyone going uninformed of the workings of the government, or of anything in particular due to an inability to present the information in a way suitable to those who must receive that information quickly and inefficiently is outright ridiculous; to believe that some may stay ignorant to the reasons for their suffering, and therefore have no way to
“Another potential problem with ‘fake’ news is the threat of dilution, undermining the integrity and substance of hard news,” “If the Daily Show increases the dilution by adding another alternative to hard news, so much the worse” (Zinser, 368-369). Though reasonable as this may seem, these views are known to be false due to the fact that all people have the skills necessary to determine the difference between legitimate information provided and humor created to draw in viewers.
In conclusion, it takes many a rough comedial humor to correctly relate information regarding politics and policy through humor, but when done effectively the people can gain a further understanding of their political world. Late-Night comedy provides these insights into governmental policy, and ultimately improves political efficacy in the process; moreover, satirical news is enjoyable for everyone, whether at the age of two or twenty-two, all while mentally stimulating thought processes without actual thought, and filling the minds of Americans with reliable information regarding their governmental