From The Daily Show to Striscia la Notizia: News Satire in Global Perspective An analysis of power, engagement, and resistance Alexandra Fillip MDST 3300: Global Media Prof. Christopher Ali 12/13/13
Fillip 1 Introduction In an age of infotainment, satirical news has gained a stronghold in American society. Though much attention has been paid to news satire television programs in the United States, American satirists have no monopoly on the genre. News parody appears as a truly universal phenomenon; turn on the television in any number of countries around the world and you are likely to find at least one news parody show providing its own take on contemporary events. As such a pervading genre globally and because news satire programs may be changing the broadcast news landscape, it is important to look at what kind of influences these shows are having on their viewers. In this paper, I will consider the global flow of news parody programs and the multiple ways in which these programs adapt to differing political, economic, and cultural contexts by analyzing six global shows. Further, I will discuss the political significance of news parody and the role the genre plays as a popular response to power. Finally, I will argue for the increasing trend of news satire television as a platform for political engagement and a stage for a globally significant kind of popular resistance. Literature Review/Background A wealth of research has been done on the topic of news satire television. In the past decade, media studies scholarship has produced conflicting perspectives on the role that satirical news programs play within the realm of civic culture. Due in part to the growing ubiquity and influence of the genre in the U.S., numerous studies, surveys, and scholarly articles have speculated on the impact this emerging cultural form is having on viewers. Previous researchers in this field have delivered literature with strong U.S.-centric perspectives. In 2012, Geoffrey Baym published a history of broadcast news called From
Fillip 2 Cronkite to Colbert: The Evolution of Broadcast News. The book begins with the height of the network age and Walter Cronkite s CBS Evening News, works its way through the breakdown of mainstream television, and ends in our current post-network age where late-night comedy thrives. Baym s primary conclusion is that fake news should be understood as a new kind of journalism, one that has the potential to reinvigorate the conversation on democracy in today s society (Baym, 2010). Amber Day s 2011 book titled Satire and Dissent: Interventions in Contemporary Political Debate uses case studies to argue that news parody shows can create discursive spaces in which social narratives are created, sustained, dispersed, and challenged (Day, 2011, p.19). Similarly, Lindsay Hoffman and Dannagal Young s research outlined in Satire, Punch Lines, and the Nightly News: Untangling Media Effects on Political Participation uses statistical data to back up the argument that news satire programs positively influence political participation (Hoffman, 2011). All of these pieces of literature have linked U.S. news satire programs to political engagement, suggesting that news satire programs have the capacity to effect civic culture and citizen engagement or participation. Despite the considerable amount of scholarly attention paid to U.S. programs such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, little attention has been paid to news parody across national and international contexts. Published in 2007, Daya Kishan Thussu s book News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment, delves into the idea of a global infotainment sphere. Adopting a global perspective, Thussu recognizes global infotainment as the globalization of U.S.-style ratings-driven television journalism, presenting politics as a form of spectacle (Thussu, 2007). While Thussu analyzes television journalism and not news satire television, his research considers the global implications of infotainment. In a rare convergence of discussion on news satire programs and case studies of international formats, a special issue of the journal
Fillip 3 Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture published over 10 authors pieces examining specific news satire shows outside the U.S. Among them, an article called The Geopolitics of Parazit, the Iranian Televisual Sphere, and the Global Infrastructure of Political Humor by Mehdi Semanti examines Parazit, a weekly Persian-language satiric news program. Semanti argues that the show exemplifies globally inflected discursive integration and has noteworthy ramifications for the Iranian political culture (Semanti, 2012, p. 119). Beyond these pieces of literature, there is little research on international news parody programs. Thussu and Semanti s work suggests that some sort of global flow of news satire television exists, but neither scholar expands on that flow. Collectively, literature on news parody shows outside the U.S. seems to discuss criticism, challenge and resistance as main features of the programming. There is very little understanding and consensus of the range of news parody programs that can be found on televisions around the world, let alone of the similarities and differences among various global approaches. Little research has been done on what gives rise to such programming in countries with radically different media systems, political arrangements, and cultural contexts, or why the genre has become universally popular. Nor have scholars explored the multiple ways that such programs offer critiques and negotiate power. Through studies of news parody programs in countries as diverse as Egypt, Iran, Italy, and Germany, this paper seeks to enhance our understanding of the intersections of news, comedy, and politics, as well as the power and possibilities of news parody. As such, my research questions are: What is/are the global flow(s) or news satire programs? What is the political significance of global news parody? What roles does the genre play as a popular response to power? Given that existing literature ties U.S. news parody programs to potential for political engagement and ties non-u.s. programs to a
Fillip 4 kind of popular resistance, I hypothesize that both political engagement and popular resistance are themes of news parody programs I will uncover with my research. Method In order to research this topic, I selected six international news satire programs: Striscia la Notizia (Italy), Parazit (Iran), Al Bernameg (Egypt), The Daily Show (U.S.), Die Heute Show (Germany), and Les Guignols (France). I watched three episodes of each show, found on the Internet (primarily via YouTube) with English subtitles. 1 Specifically, I watched one episode from the most recent season and two other episodes from previous seasons of each show. I looked for similarities and differences in the shows and conducted basic research to understand the political arrangements, economic and media systems, and cultural contexts in which the shows exist. This was done in part through a close reading of existing literature and in part through a search of news articles. A critical reading of existing literature on the history of news satire television and primary research through watching six international news satire shows were the main components of my methods. This was the best method to answer my research questions because existing literature gave me a good grasp of the current theories on the effects of news satire programs, and watching such shows provided me with the evidence necessary to generate themes or trends regarding global news satire. Using these methods, I will examine the global flow of news parody programs and how these programs take shape in differing political, economic, and cultural contexts. Then, I will argue for the trend of news satire television as a stage for political engagement and popular resistance. 1 Limited by the episodes I could find with subtitles or accessible transcripts, the episodes I chose primarily contained controversial segments or followed important events in their respective countries. In other words, my sample of episodes was not random.
Fillip 5 Findings/Themes To properly analyze each news parody show, I had to understand the political and cultural contexts of each program. Striscia la Notizia ( The News Slithers ) was founded in 1988 and created specifically to expose the artifice of news, to undermine its ideological underpinnings, and generally as a parody of the Italian daily news (Cosentino, 2012). The program postures as neutral, spreading its ridicule across the political spectrum, but it has been tame in criticizing former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who owns the channel on which it airs. Parazit ( Static or Jamming ) is a Voice of America production produced in the U.S. by expatriate Iranians and transmitted by satellite into Iran in opposition to Iranian law with financial and technological assistance from the U.S. government. The show is accessible to Iranians via Facebook, YouTube, and other bootleg sources. While the show is a clear 21 st century form of political propaganda, it uses humor instead of polemics to tickle the foundation of power and install a government with the help of the people (Al Jazeera, 2011). Al Bernameg ( The Program ) is an Egyptian program hosted by Bassem Youssef. The third season of the show returned to air on October 25, 2013, and the season premiere marked the first broadcast of the show since the Egyptian coup d état that deposed Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Al Bernameg was taken off air on November 2, 2013, just one episode into the new season, because Youssef had criticized both the Morsi administration and the military regime led by Abdul Fatah al-sisi. Private channel CBC, the network on which the show airs, stated that Youssef had violated editorial policy (El-Dabh, 2013). Also, earlier this year, Youssef was arrested allegedly for insulting Islam and Morsi (before the coup), and the move was seen by opponents as part of an effort to silence dissent against Morsi. American satire program The Daily Show, which became known as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in 1999, airs on Comedy
Fillip 6 Central. The show has received abundant attention in literature and in 2009, Jon Stewart was voted America s most trust newscaster in an online poll conducted by Time magazine. The show emerged as an important site of public inquiry in the post-9/11 period, when mainstream media largely sided with the Bush administration and failed to question the government (Baym, 2012). In Germany, Die Heute Show, which translates directly to The Daily Show, has been embraced by the public broadcaster ZDF in the hope that it might have the ability to re-energize political engagement among young Germans (Iqbal, 2011). In France, Les Guignols The Puppets, a satirical puppet show broadcast on Canal+, started in 1988 and generally displays a leftist political outlook. The show s agenda has been transparent the writers have used the show to actively work against right-wing parties and candidates. These six shows provide ample material for establishing and examining the global flow of news satire programs and investigating trends in news satire television. I found that the story of transnational news parody is a story of global programming flows. Historically, British satire shows inspired versions across the English-speaking world. Currently, The Daily Show is being imitated and reproduced with varying degrees of resemblance. The German Die Heute Show is remarkably similar in form and content to The Daily Show and it exemplifies how in this globalized age, a foreign format can successfully be adapted to a country s own political, cultural, and journalistic context. Additionally, in an interview on The Daily Show, the host of Parazit, Kambiz Hosseini, told Jon Stewart, We re getting everything from you. You re the prophet (Semanti, 2012). In each instance, I ve found that part of the power of news parody seems to lie in its portability. In other words, the power of news parody is its ability to cross national, cultural, and linguistic boundaries. Parody seems to be a format that can easily adapt to different environments.
Fillip 7 In determining the political significance of news parody programs globally, it was necessary to analyze the content of each show. I found three commonalities in the content of all six shows they all presented criticism, commentary, and information. An episode of Al Bernameg on December 21, 2012 effectively mounted criticism against the political elite in Egypt who use religion to control and bully the populace. One clip went as follows: Host Bassem Youssef: Regrettably, there are people who think they have indulgences to give out and that they hold the keys to heaven. They consider any attack on them an attack on religion. Don t be surprised, then, if you see the people who are supposed to be the religious ones cursing and bullying people. The question is: How can people who are supposed to be a model, who say that they re godly, say things like this? Swear like this, lie, bully us They look at us, not as Muslims and Christian, no. [They look at us] as hypocrites, enemies of religion, enemies of the Lord. So we deserve to be curse and humiliated, even if it goes as far as beating and torture, and maybe after that God forbid killing. That s the summary of everything that s happening, that you see. Because of that, just like you don t consider us Muslims, to us, you aren t sheikhs or ulama (religious scholars). 2 This clip demonstrates how critical news parody shows can be of governments, groups, or even specific people. The host, Youssef, criticizes and condemns those who use religion in Egypt to curse and humiliate or even beat and torture others. On the November 6, 2013 episode of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart discussed a lawsuit filed by a young African American man who claimed he was profiled after buying a $349 belt 2 S02E05 (22:40-24:25): http://youtu.be/i1_zvtn8cje
Fillip 8 from a Barneys store and being subsequently arrested. Larry Wilmore, a correspondent on The Daily Show, said the following: Make up your mind, America. You can t tell brothers to pull up our pants and then arrest us when we buy a belt. 3 Underneath this joke is a comment about the existence of racism in the U.S. and it makes viewers think about racial profiling in the U.S. without blatantly criticizing the police. In this way, The Daily Show has combined comedy with commentary. More importantly, the show is providing social commentary, which most other news sources don t offer. Lastly, the February 10, 2012 episode of Parazit discussed upcoming elections in Iran and the lack of diverse political candidates/parties in the running. Parazit Host: So to further understand the candidates in the upcoming Iranian election, we thought we should learn more about all sides and platforms First, we looked to the reformists. But then we remembered what happened the last time that people gravitated towards them and how that went. And anyway those are the same guys now boycotting the system. Then we looked to the bureaucrats, but the lights were off and nobody was home there too. Then all that s left is the rightwingers. But wait, hey, that starts looking like a single party system making the election meaningless! 4 This clip from Parazit illustrates the informative role that news satire programs play in exposing truths that the traditional media might not be able to reveal. Ultimately, I found that all 3 S19E19: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-november-6-2013/jay-z-penney 4 2/10/12 (5:45-6:15): http://youtu.be/iffalwpjxwu
Fillip 9 six shows contained the common features of criticism (of people, governments, and the mainstream media), commentary, and information. As I traversed my range of parody programs produced in and for differing governmental structures and media systems, and took into account the common features of criticism, commentary, and information that exist within these global shows, it became clear that there is an increasing trend of news satire television as a stage for political engagement. Existing literature supports the idea of parody as a source for political engagement. In the U.S., for example, where Jon Stewart regularly interviews national politicians, scholarly speculation abounds that The Daily Show is influencing what people know about politics and the degree to which citizens especially the young ones are interested in the political process (Baym, 2010; Day, 2011; Hoffman, 2011). As U.S. public service journalist Bill Moyers once said, You simply can t understand American politics in the new millennium without The Daily Show (PBS, 2003). This trend of potential for political engagement requires considering the role news parody plays in actually influencing elections and legislation. While I cannot make conclusions about increased political engagement, according to a 2004 study by Marc Hecker, 15% of French voters said Les Guignols influenced their choice in the country s 2002 presidential election (Hecker, 2004). Conclusive evidence of an increase in political engagement as a result of news parody show viewership is difficult to ascertain, but it can be said that news parody programs play a role in engaging citizens in the political process by providing commentary and information, and exposing hypocrisy and scams. News parody seems to at times perform a constructive role providing the citizenry with discursive resources often absent in public discourse. In Italy, public opinion polls find that people more readily communicate their concerns to Gabibbo, the star of Striscia la Notizia, than they do to the country s real journalists
Fillip 10 (Costentino, 2012). The capacity for political engagement is particularly evident in Western parody programs, where there seemed to be more evidence of commentary than of criticism in the content of the programs. In addition to political engagement, I suggest a trend of popular resistance among the news parody shows in or for countries with unstable or non-democratic governments. Through the common feature of criticism, these shows are providing a voice that challenges authority. Some of the shows themselves are sources of political or popular resistance because they exist despite censorship laws or despite governments that seek to silence them, such as in the case of Parazit and Al Bernameg. Furthermore, these shows have the potential to incite popular resistance among viewers. According to a 2011 Washington Post article, young Iranians have taken to imitating the clothing and expressions of Parazit s hosts as a means of exchanging dissent (Bahrampour, 2011). Furthermore, after Egyptian show Al Bernameg was taken off the air in early November of this year, fans staged a protest by gathering outside the theater where the show is recorded in central Cairo and demanding it be put back on air. One protestor said, We are here today to reject what happened to the media satirist and the revolution s satirist, Bassem Youssef, and to say that freedom for the media is amongst the most important demands of the revolution. We reject any suppression (EuroNews, 2013). At the very least, shows like Parazit and Al Bernameg contribute to a kind of democratic imaginary wherein citizens have the right to satirize and even ridicule their rulers. In looking at these six news parody programs, I found several examples of parody interrogating the efforts by those in positions of power to shape popular understanding of the political sphere. I saw this at its sharpest in Parazit, which routinely confronts the explicit efforts of Iran s theocratic regime to control public information. Even in its least acute forms, news parody programs worldwide seem to routinely provide
Fillip 11 opportunities simply for citizens to laugh at those who populate the narratives. The shows I analyzed present a means through which audiences are invited to reinterpret, ridicule, and challenge their governments/authority, or simply the characters that populate citizens public imaginations. Conclusion Through this paper, I argue that there is an increasing trend of news satire programs as platforms for political engagement and popular resistance. My findings show that there is a global flow of news parody programs. In particular, imitations and adaptations of The Daily Show have spread globally. News parody programs offer content that criticizes authority, comments on the state of society, and informs viewers about hypocrisy and scams. The trends of political engagement and popular resistance illustrate that these shows are politically significant. Ultimately, news parody seems to invite a communal challenge to authorized discourse and in this way plays a role as a popular response to power. Not only are news parodies one of the more popular globally circulated texts, but they also comprise a way in which people across various political and social systems have come to talk about, comment on, and at times take action against the discourses that shape their lives. These findings are significant because the possibilities for humor within that context are seemingly limitless. In regards to the larger implications of this research, we will want to be on the lookout for how news parody programs like Al Bernameg and Parazit are affecting their viewers and contributing to shifts in power dynamics in countries with unstable or nondemocratic governments. If laughter is a symbol of resistance to power, it also serves as a threat to those governments. As philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin (1981) notes, laughter is a form of
Fillip 12 resistance to power, and parody a critical means of confronting and deconstructing discourses of authority. It is sensible, then, that news parody would resonate across a vast range of national and regional contexts. As we re beginning to see and will see more in the coming decade, laughter may be the most dangerous form of speech its citizens can employ.
Fillip 13 Bibliography Al Jazeera (2011, October 3). Parazit: Voice of America or voice of the people?.al Jazeera. Retrieved December 1, 2013, from http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/parazit-voiceamerica-or-voice-people-0021872 Bahrampour, T. (2011, January 21). Iranian Daily Show, Meet 'The Daily Show'. The Washington Post. Retrieved December 1, 2013, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/21/ar2011012 Bakhtin, M. (1981). The dialogic imagination (C. Emerson & M. Holquist, Trans.; M. Holquist, Ed.). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Baym, G. (2010). From Cronkite to Colbert: The Evolution of Broadcast News. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers. Cosentino, G. (2012). The Comical Inquisition: Striscia la Notizia and the Politics of Fake News on Italian Television. Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture, 10(1-2), 52-65. Retrieved October 9, 2013, from the EBSCOHost database. Day, A. (2011). Satire and Dissent: Interventions in Contemporary Political Debate. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. El-Dabh, B. (2013, November 3). Al-Bernameg Suspension Draws Widespread Criticism. Daily News Egypt. Retrieved December 1, 2013, from http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/11/03/al-bernameg-suspension-draws-widespreadcriticism/ EuroNews (2013, November 2). Egypt: fans protest after TV show suspended for criticising the military. EuroNews. Retrieved December 1, 2013, from http://uk.news.yahoo.com/video/egypt-fans-protest-tv-show-204502375.html
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