Week 12

Week 12

ABC Media Report - “The New Blue Media“
Date 23rd October 2008
Available here : http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2395910.htm

This was fascinating, but I think maybe the author has gone a little overboard. Yes , Stewart claims his show is to be comedic first, and I think that it is. Honestly, if you actually watch it for a news program above anything else, you might as well kill yourself. The subjects they talk about, the way they approach it and, the criticisms they offer. I f they were all taken seriously then you’d get incredibly depressed, it’d paint a picture that the whole world’s screwed and we’ll soon all be dead.
But if you step back from all that, and actually take it all into perspective, you kinda laugh. And that’s what these programs do, often they step back from all the media reports and actually say, “hey, you know what? I think we’ve gone crazy here. “
Ultimately, those shows make fun of whatever it is that’s in the public sphere, which for better or worse, is on the minds of Americans at the time. Mostly its about showing how insane other American news sources are.
And to accuse them of being too liberal, well, they are allowed to be, its not trying to be fair or balanced, its aiming to be funny. They can support whoever they want, the shows just s caps off a wider appreciation for what’s happening within the media for viewers, it shouldn’t be their only news source.

And I’ve seen the video of Colbert making that speech. It’s funny, you know who laughs in it? BUSH LAUGHS! He’s chuckling away right next to Colbert. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=X-oMlBSiX3g Whatever criticisms the world has of Bush you CANNOT deny that he has a sense of humour about himself. Colbert understands, Bush understands that, now we wait for the rest of the world to grasp that.
The idea is to step back and laugh; they aren’t trying to solve any problems here. Christ.

The Australian lift out – “ACA local editions to pulp populist image“
Date 27th October 2008
Available here : http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24555234-7582,00.html

“rather than consumer stories and neighbourhood disputes.”
WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER.
They’ll never be able to do this. Why? Their viewing audience.
They couldn’t possible try and change. The fact is this shows popular with a certain collective of viewers that aren’t interested in “bigger issues”, they want bogan news.

Bogan news. It’ll be the death of us all.