The world has shrunk.
Not physically — land mass and diameter remain unaltered — but in the distance from one person, city or country to another.
The potential for accurate and far-reaching news has expanded, enabling written words to travel from Karbala, Iraq to the New York Times’ homepage in a matter of hours.
At the same time, today’s generation seems to toss newspapers aside and turn on Comedy Central.
“I don’t really read the newspaper or anything else like that,” Christina Cortell, a freshman in psychology, said. “I watch breaking news — I’ll watch something big like the bridge collapse ove the summer. I just find the satire stuff more funny.”
This is not the satire of yesterday — rare, risky and a Marx Brothers’ production. It’s quick, it’s cutting and it’s everywhere.
This is hard-hitting news stories turned laugh-out-loud funny.
“I love The Daily Show. It entertains me. It’s funny, and it keeps me involved,” Cortell said. “You get information, but you also get a laugh from it.”
Comedy Central’s lineup includes satirical shows such as Lil’ Bush, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report.
Liz Montgomery, a sophomore in forest management, said she watches all three of these shows but tries to keep up regularly with The Daily Show.
“I really got into it because it’s kind of like Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien,” she said. “They’ll use the first part of their shows to make jokes about headline news. [The Daily Show] makes those types of jokes.”
Montgomery said she stuck to The Daily Show because she can be entertained while being brought up-to-date about current national and international affairs.
“[Stewart and Colbert] are mean and very cynical. I feel like I could relate to them more than I could a serious broadcaster,” Montgomery said. “Sometimes it seems more like an inside joke … They let you know this is a serious issue but that life goes on.”
Since the shows do tend to exaggerate political news, Cortell said, she tends to view them as more entertainment than factual.
“Most of the time if something is absurd, you just know from common sense,” she said. “It’s not possible.”
This light, amusing spin satirical news puts on serious issues is something Montgomery said she is grateful to have.
“Even though some of it’s serious, they can make it a lighter subject, especially when you have both liberals and conservatives mocking an issue,” she said. “It lets you know that we’re all still human.”
Montgomery said she also catches satirical cartoons, such as Comedy Central’s South Park and Lil’ Bush, which premiered this summer.
“[Lil’ Bush] is entertaining, but it also has a corrospondence with the fact that Bush’s approval rating has really dropped,” she said. “They couldn’t have made this show six years ago, but now that more people are disapproving of his actions, they’re more open to this type of humor.”
However, Lil’ Bush‘s plot lines, Montgomery said, have little to do with specific aspects of current affairs. She said the show has more to do with broad events such as the Iraq War and the United States’ policy disagreements with North Korea.
“They kind of link [the show] to the general consensus of how people feel about Bush,” she said.
Though Montgomery said she occasionally reads headline news on her Yahoo! account, she reads few print stories and does not watch the televised news unless she is at home, where her parents watch nightly reports on ABC or MSNBC.
“I try to avoid newspapers, actually,” Montgomery said. “Even if they are free, I still don’t want one because it’s somewhat depressing to read world news, and I don’t want that to make me have a bad day. If it’s really important, it’ll get on [The Daily Show.]”
April Lee, a sophomore in poultry science, said she enjoys watching The Daily Show and Colbert Report when she catches them on TV.
“These shows are directed toward our age level, instead of adults who want just the facts,” she said.
Less concerned about world news, Lee said she is more inclined to read local news on the Internet. She, like Montgomery, uses her Yahoo! account to access current headlines and feature stories.
“I only watch the news when my sister watches it in the apartment,” she said. “It’s at an inconvenient time, like 5 or 6 [p.m.]. The Daily Show‘s more entertaining anyway.”
Cortell said she relies almost exclusively on The Daily Show‘s satirical updates to keep her informed about major current events. If neither The Daily Show nor Colbert Report were available to watch, she said she would have to rely heavily on word-of-mouth.
“I remember when I was little I hated the news,” Cortell said. “I don’t hate it as much now, but I prefer not to watch it.”
