Yet Another Study Shows US Satire Programs Do A Better Job Informing Viewers Than Actual News Outlets

from the honey-makes-the-medicine-go-down dept

By now it’s sadly clear that the nation’s satirical news programs do a significantly better job at reporting the news than most of the nation’s actual news outlets, despite a fraction of the budget and experience. John Oliver’s recent analysis of Miss America scholarship claims, for example, contained more original reporting in a fifteen minute segment than most Apple regurgitation blogs manage to stumble through in an entire year’s worth of gadget lust. Not only are satirists now doing a better job unearthing the truth, they’re doing a better job explaining complex issues.

Case in point: a study earlier this year out of the University of Pennsylvania suggested that Stephen Colbert explained campaign financing more effectively than most beat reporters. Of course a 2012 Pew study suggested many cable news viewers were less informed than those who watched no news at all, suggesting it’s not too difficult to beat many modern news outlets at their own game when the standards bar is set ankle height.

Satire’s continued rise as one of the country’s most effective and influential original reporting platforms was again on display courtesy of John Oliver’s fantastic net neutrality rant, which not only explained the issue in effective detail, it captured the attention of the dingo-staffed FCC itself (as these recent FOIA-obtained internal FCC memos indicate). It also helped spur the lion’s share of the four million net neutrality comments filed with the agency, blurring the line between not only satire and journalism, but consumer advocacy and activism.

This month a new study (pdf) out of the University of Delaware once again highlights how viewers of satirical programs are significantly better informed on the subject of net neutrality than those who watch traditional news programs:

“The survey also reveals that viewers of satirical shows such as John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight and The Colbert Report are far more aware of the issue than consumers of traditional news sources…Opposition to the creation of “fast lanes” is strongest (86%) among those who say they have heard a lot about the proposed rules, but most Americans say they have heard little or nothing about the topic. The University of Delaware research found that only 10% of Americans have heard a lot about how “the U.S. government is considering new rules for ISPs.” Another 39% have heard a little, whereas fully half (50%) have heard nothing at all about the topic.”

Of course a big reason major news outlets aren’t adequately informing their viewership on net neutrality is because they’re simply not mentioning it. A Pew study from earlier this year studied net neutrality coverage among twenty-three major newspapers and cable news networks, and found most simply didn’t discuss the issue this year. That trend continued this month when the President’s clear support of Title II rules barely made a dent on major networks like Fox News and CNN, and when it did — often saw either misleading and inaccurate analysis, or an over-emphasis on inane aspects of the discussion (like what Donald Trump has to say about the issue).

Traditionally, folks like Jon Stewart have denied that satire can be journalism, largely because while clinical presentation of facts easily offends the nation’s roaming partisan-cheerleader zombie hordes, a humorous presentation of those same facts magically defuses, creating a narrow-minded stupidity firewall through which truth can function (or as my less verbose grandmother used to say, honey makes the medicine go down). In a New York Times article posted over the weekend, Oliver follows Stewart’s lead, stating that what his show is doing is not journalism:

“So, I asked Mr. Oliver: Is he engaging in a kind of new journalism? He muttered an oath, the kind he can say on HBO for comic emphasis, but we don?t say here, adding, “No!” “We are making jokes about the news and sometimes we need to research things deeply to understand them, but it?s always in service of a joke. If you make jokes about animals, that does not make you a zoologist.”

While Oliver’s presentation of the facts utilizes satire and humor, Oliver’s staff has had previous stints at New York Times Magazine and ProPublica, and what they’re doing is absolutely and undeniably investigative journalism. Unless of course you’re an iron-headed, old guard news industry employee who still believes only Walter Cronkite’s talking head has been mystically ordained with the authority to inform the lowly plebeians.

In the end though who really cares if you call this flavor of reporting “journalism,” “investigative comedy,” or “donkey walnuts.” The sole purpose of journalism is to accurately inform and deliver the truth. That’s something that has been increasingly lost with the rise of tepid, he said, she said news reporting that sacrifices truth for the bland, unoffensive illusion of balance — in the process helping to make stupidity fashionable and facts negotiable. It really doesn’t matter if it’s satirists, comedians, or male strippers stepping up and trying to fix the broken news industry — just as long as somebody, somewhere is trying to.

Filed Under: journalism, net neutrality, satire