Why nowadays people (not only young guys) prefer to watch night talk show rather than news report at 7pm? After analyzing the features of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, I have better understanding of the reasons. One important element is interweaving discourse through production elements news and entertainment. Host usually presents the aggressive and sensitive contents by using funny expressions that makes audience laugh. We can say those jokes are entertaining; but speaking deeply, it contains or implicit more serious meanings under the jokes. As Jon Stewart said in his interview, “it was just exciting to see fake news catching on like that; we don’t make things up, we just distill it to most humorous nugget and in that sense it seems fake and skewed, just because we don’t have to be subjective or pretend to be objective — we can just put it out there” (Stewart 2004). The highlight of comedy show should be how the host present a news — they usually using satire to reject standard news conventions.
“We see exactly the same as journalists see. But for some reasons don’t analyze it in that manner or put it on the air in that manner” (Stewart 2004). Stewart outlines that what they do is watching news and spending time on how to make it fun, not judging the news or involved figures subjectively. Adding satire is a technique to make the news presenting entertainingly, instead of actually criticizing anyone. “No social or media critic, I am a comedian who has the pressure of writing jokes about things that I actually care about. If I really want to enact social change I have great respect for people who are in the front lines and the trenches of trying to enact social change, I am far lazier than that” (Stewart 2004).
Comedy news usually use satire to criticize the political or social issues of the United States, performing in form of parodying the news from mainstream media, which making a contrast of the mainstream media, and resonate with audience. The form of comedy news is “fake”, but the public consider it is “real” news. In The Daily Show, the editing techniques are used to enrich the program, which is collecting the news segments as well as adding exaggerated reporting and dubbing. We call it “fake”, but it is real. It is more interesting and acceptable for audience to knowing the truths.