Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Fake News
The genre of “Fake News” consists of simply taking regular news that we hear about every day and pointing out the funnier aspect and irony to it. Calling it “fake news” seems wrong to me since most of what they are reporting is a genuinely real story that channels like CNN will air as well. But, although the stories themselves are the same, the way they are presented are much different. “Fake News” tries to find the irony and humor in events from around the world while other new channels try to give the facts, or at least the facts they want us to hear, to give us a realistic story from which we are to learn more about what is happening in the world. When I compare “Fake News” to what they put on CNN I think of it as looking at the glass half full, or half empty. They can take news that would normally sadden, anger, or even embarrass us, and make it into something we can laugh at. The most essential thing to this genre is the presenter, such as John Stewart or Stephen Colbert. They are what set this genre apart from other new shows and they turn regular news into something that is geared for a younger generation, with shorter attention spans and less interest in what is going on in the world.
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3 comments:
I agree with your comment about the label of "fake news." I would be more inclined to call Fox prime-time "fake news."
I think I would only add that the purpose of such parodies can be for the sake of pure humor or to make some sort of statement.
I like how you ended this blog. I do agree that this is geared for a younger audience and the attention spans of kids today is getting shorter and shorter. Which is something that I think is a problem, but it is hard to fix so shows like the Daily Show and Colbert are good in this sense.
I agree with your comment on how they try to add irony to a current issue. The irony they show on the "Fake News" shows is an aspect you probably don't get very often in standard news shows.
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