I love The Daily Show with Jon Stewart so dearly - I am always saddened when there is a week where it is absent. I thought "Indecision 2004" was a particular pinnacle in their show as it brought so much truth to the humor - and also came with real emotions after Bush somehow won again. I remember watching that election night with my Hamlin friends in MPLS and while our hearts were cracking in two as we watched the evil despot win - yet again - at least we had the safe net of humor to rely on - and I do really rely on it.I appreciated the insight of the Kothe piece and agree that The Daily Show "informs its viewers of important current events while also criticizing the pathetic state of most mainstream news sources." I think that her inclusion of the many voices and opinions surrounding The Daily Show brought much more merit to her piece and also made for a more interesting read. I do not, however, agree with McKain that The Daily Show forces "other" news media to add more entertainment to its broadcast to enhance viewership - the 24/7 news channels and shows do what they have to do to get viewers - it is not about the news - they are a product and they are trying to sell it. Thus The Daily Show serves a purpose as Kothe states: "Whether mainstream news already incorporates entertainment in order to draw in more viewers or is more false than fake news itself, its parody is an event that is to be taken seriously." Kothe ultimately says that "TDS should be understood as encouraging us to view official news more critically and thus compelling official news to become more credible and engage in what Mindich calls solid journalism," which I completely agree with.
Assignment #1
Watch either a local news broadcast, a national news broadcast, read "Section A" of a local or national newspaper, read the news online at a reputable news source (check with me if you have questions or need direction to a reputable source) and take notes on what stands out most to you and what the main stories are.
Next, watch either The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or The Colbert Report (from the same day as the other "real" news source) and write down all connections. Connections include: same stories covered, the same names mentioned, the same ideas brought up, even the same advertisements.
Write thoughtful - complete sentence - answers to the following questions: 1) Which "news" source did you enjoy more? Why? 2) Which news did you feel was more relevant to your life? Why? 3) What were the similarities and the differences you found in the two news sources? 4) Did one news source make you feel like you were "learning more" than the other? Which one and why? 5) Based on this activity, what news might you be more likely to seek out in the future and why?
Next, watch either The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or The Colbert Report (from the same day as the other "real" news source) and write down all connections. Connections include: same stories covered, the same names mentioned, the same ideas brought up, even the same advertisements.
Write thoughtful - complete sentence - answers to the following questions: 1) Which "news" source did you enjoy more? Why? 2) Which news did you feel was more relevant to your life? Why? 3) What were the similarities and the differences you found in the two news sources? 4) Did one news source make you feel like you were "learning more" than the other? Which one and why? 5) Based on this activity, what news might you be more likely to seek out in the future and why?
Assignment #2
Think about your favorite type of parody book, song, tv show or movie. Read, look or listen to it again. Think about why it is successful and what it is about that book, song, show or movie that makes it funny. Are there hints of truth in it? Why do you laugh?
Now you are going to take a stab at writing your own short story, song, tv show or movie in a news format. (If you are unfamiliar with Weekend Update, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me! - seek one out and watch/listen to it immediately!) For this assignement you are going to write about your friends or family (or both). You are going to try and think of an entire day's worth of material and write a condensed news broadcast. Think about a fun or memorable day you had and then pick out the "top news stories" from that day. Incorporate humor as best you can (pointing out particular aspects about your friends and family - things that you find funny). While you will not be insulting anyone, you can find space to tease. For example: in my family we tease my dad all the time for being so anal about different things. So one of my news headlines could be: Area Father Freaks Out About Leaving The Refridgerator Open For Too Long - or something along those lines (look to The Onion for more examples).
Your finished product should be three to four full pages - double spaced - MLA style.
Now you are going to take a stab at writing your own short story, song, tv show or movie in a news format. (If you are unfamiliar with Weekend Update, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me! - seek one out and watch/listen to it immediately!) For this assignement you are going to write about your friends or family (or both). You are going to try and think of an entire day's worth of material and write a condensed news broadcast. Think about a fun or memorable day you had and then pick out the "top news stories" from that day. Incorporate humor as best you can (pointing out particular aspects about your friends and family - things that you find funny). While you will not be insulting anyone, you can find space to tease. For example: in my family we tease my dad all the time for being so anal about different things. So one of my news headlines could be: Area Father Freaks Out About Leaving The Refridgerator Open For Too Long - or something along those lines (look to The Onion for more examples).
Your finished product should be three to four full pages - double spaced - MLA style.
I think my rationale for these two assignments is implicit within them. In order for one to analyze things critically - it is helpful to try your own hand. In the first assignment (and I think something like that could be modified endlessly) - the student has to actually go through the process of lending an ear to the news, "real" or "fake," and respond to it. In this way, they become an active participant.
In the second assignment, the student can try their hand at comedy and also at developing the news. Hopefully they can see how difficult (or easy) the process is and also see what it takes to parody something and try and make it funny. From these two "stepping stone" like assignments - you could then lead your class further into a critical study of the news and the "fake" news.
Joe, I really like you assignments, particularly the second one. However, I'm running into something in my assignment design that I'm wondering if you thought about to; scaffolding. Although I think my ideas are really cool, and I think yours is super cool too, how much scaffolding do you think would be needed to have students write a condensed news broadcast about their day? I don't know about you, but this assignment would scare the hell out of me.
ReplyDeleteDo you think you'd need to spend some time dissecting what a parody is? What makes a good parody? What makes a bad parody? And so on. Or would you have them jump right in and see what comes out?
Although I think these types of assignments are super cool. This is the part that scares me; they seem like super lofty goals. I know that if I would have asked my seniors to write a 3-4 page news broadcast of their day I wouldn't have gotten a damn thing back. They just were not there yet, and they were seniors. What you think son?
Nice work.
Your experience with using the Daily Show for comic relief on that tragic night Bush won again reminds me of another possible enduring understanding for a "fake news" unit: we cannot let mere laughter placate us out of action. The trouble with finding relief through comedy is that the outrage can end there, burning out in a fit of laughter, rather than potentially leading to action. Depressing thought, but one that may merit consideration.
ReplyDelete