This week I watched the epitome of intersections between pop culture and politics: The Daily Show. Though it is a comedy program hosted not by a journalist but by a comedian, a majority of people who watch it do consider it to be their news source according to a study done by the Journal of Communication Inquiry (Baym & Jones, 2010).
The episode I watched commented on a current political news story; that the Pentagon has changed military rules to allow women positions in the military closer to the front lines. The show comments on videos of actual journalists, politicians, and experts covering this story. The videos they choose show experts who are against this change by the Pentagon using two different positions. One, that men in the military will now feel obligated to protect t the women in the military, and two, that combining men and
women in the military will increase the amount of sexual assaults that take place.
As communication scholars, we know that these positions both reinforce feminine gender stereotypes by categorizing women as weaker than men, and being sexual objects to men. But what John Stewart did with these stories was very interesting. He mocked these experts and used satire to show how
ridiculous these standpoints actually are in our society. In effect, he actually reduced these people to something of characters rather than experts. He took away their power and challenged the stereotypes they reinforced. By making them elements of pop culture instead of real respected figures, The Daily Show makes something new out of news.
To watch this clip, click here.
Baym, G., & Jones, J. P.
(2010). A dialogue on satire news and the crisis of truth in postmodern
political television. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 34(3), 278.
-Christine A.
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