"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" Critique

"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" is a media show that portrays news around the world in a comedic and entertaining way. On the air every Monday through Thursday night, "The Daily Show" has been on television since 1996, providing comedy and news all in one 22-minute episode.

Episode Analysis
During the Wednesday, April 9 episode, "The Daily Show" portrayed both international news and news story from the United States. The first segment of the show started with Stewart talking about Russia's continued attempt to take over more regions of neighboring Ukraine. Stewart makes a number of jokes about the situation, including himself mimicking the accent of a Russian citizen. To go along with his jokes toward Russia, Stewart also takes a jab at the U.S. When the U.S. states they will lend a helping hand to Ukraine, Stewart shows an image of a silhouette man eating a hoagie in the night time sky (imitating the Batman symbol). Secretary of State John Kerry spoke on a news organization saying that the U.S. wouldn't be afraid to use it's "21st century weapons"against Russia to protect Ukraine. Stewart poked fun at that buy referencing those "weapons" as Twitter, Candy Crush and Tinder. The last section of this act saw one of the crew's members, Samantha Bee, mock Russia's continued quest to take over neighboring countries. She even goes on to state that Russia is coming for a part of the U.S. next, Brighton Beach in Brooklyn because of supposedly large population of Russians. She obviously does this in a joking fashion in a fake interview. Bee goes on to make jokes about the the Russians and fitting into the city so she is ready for their takeover in the future, as well as the fact that they never smile no matter what the situation is. Bee also dressed like the Russians, talked like them (with heavy accents), and began acting like them around the city.

In the second act of the show, Stewart makes fun of Fox News and their week long coverage of what Spring Break has turned into over the years. Fox ran segments for a week straight, including an hour long show one day, talking about the dangers and problems at Spring Break (alcohol, drugs and sexual intercourse). A panel of adults were on the Fox News show stating how bad it is now and to blame the parents for their acts during that week break of college. Stewart makes fun of this in a number of ways. He then shows clips of a number of those panel members stating that they had been to Spring Break, attended party colleges and drink as well. Stewart proceeds to mock them and states their parents are the same ones that let these kids go to Spring Break, causing an outbreak of laughter from the audience.  The panel is then shown performing a number of beer related activities: beer pong, shotgunning beers and beer funnels. One of Fox News' liberals was also shown stating that he had taken a lot of cocaine during his life, but that the kids at Spring Break were taking the "bad cocaine". Stewart titled that segment "The Younger Games: Catching Ire".

The final act of the episode was a brief interview with Stewart and Colin Firth, an actor in the upcoming movie titled "The Railway Man". Firth spoke briefly about his movie and what it was like during the filming process.

Critique
While some may argue the show isn't beneficial to the audience because of the way the news is presented, others believe it's that comedic sense that separates the show from anything else. I believe the show takes the role of the former--the comedic style brings in a large audience and has a positive impact. More people are turning into "The Daily Show" looking for the amusing take on news, which in turn brings in a higher audience.

There are a number of news networks that provide a strict journalistic style approach toward reporting news (CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, etc.), but there aren't many shows like "The Daily Show" that present the news in an amusing way. It is a way for people to not only see news presented in a different view, it is more enjoyable and often times more understandable to the public. They can relate to it more clearly. I also think that because of its amusing take on various news items, more people are likely to follow "The Daily Show" rather than watching CNN or MSNBC for a half an hour or so.

I definitely feel the comedic approach has a positive impact on its audience. The audience must understand, however, that it is intended to be comedic and make them laugh. If people are looking for a more journalistic approach that states the facts (who, what, when, where and why), they should turn into other news outlets.