After reviewing many other blogs and examining all the different opinions on the topic, I determined that most students, including myself, believe that satirical news is just as reliable as traditional news. Many posts discussed culture jamming in terms of satirical news sources such as the Rick Mercer Report and the Daily Show. The concept of not crossing the line and only poking fun at topics that are appropriate was mentioned multiple times as well. Through this blog response, I will be discussing three entries that have share a similar opinion on the topic to that of my own.
The first blog post that I will review is Brandon’s. He wrote “for me, personally, I see these shows as a reliable and more entertaining way of acquiring important information that I would not otherwise find out about due to the news’ aforementioned dull and depressing nature” (http://bkennedy94.blogspot.ca/2013/11/is-fake-news-real-news.html). Although not everyone may agree with this, I personally feel the same way that Brandon does. When I watch mainstream news, which is rare, I find that I am bored and depressed. On the other hand, when I watch satirical news programs, I still receive the important information, however I am much more entertained and interested.
Next, I will be discussing Justin’s blog entry. Justin wrote “the problem with the fake news is that there’s only a certain amount of news you can joke about, some stories are just off limits, terrorism, war and death wont be talked about on these show” (http://justingmsblog.blogspot.ca/2013/11/is-fake-news-real-news.html). As I mentioned in my blog post, there are certain topics of the news that are not appropriate for poking fun. There are obvious lines that the creators of these media sources must ensure that they don’t cross, in order to make sure the audience is not offended, or there could be serious consequences. Justin mentioned topics such as terrorism, war and death but there are more topics I thought of including crimes such as robberies, kidnappings or murders and natural disasters like hurricanes or tsunamis.
The last blog post that I will be reviewing is Allison’s. While I was writing my blog post and reflecting on the idea of satirical news sources, I never really thought about each source having a different demographic, a different audience. However, she stated, “despite the fact that the nightly news has a generally older audience, and SNL’s demographic are young adults…” (http://allisonsparham.wordpress.com/). This is so true. She used Saturday Night Live as the example and I know that myself and many of my friends who are similar in age would prefer to watch shows like SNL and The Rick Mercer Report in comparison to the boring, bland mainstream news. I would make an assumption that younger individuals would be more interested in satirical news, which would provide them with more entertainment, in comparison to older individuals who would be more attracted to the more proper, straight up news (but then again, that’s just my opinion).
After reading the textbook to learn about culture jamming and comparing my opinions to the ideas of my classmates showed me that there are different perspectives on whether or not satirical news would be considered “real news” or not. I do believe that there are no implications when using satirical news as a reliable source of receiving information on what is going on in the world. As long as the audience knows that this is not the most reliable source out there, that although you are receiving information about the news and that the main purpose is a source of comedic entertainment, there is no harm being done.
torigligic 