An idea from one of the readings from week six onwards, is the reading from week six, “Breaking the news… On a weekly basis”: trolling as rhetorical style on Last Week Tonight by Amber Davisson and Mackenzie Donovan where they discuss how Last Week Tonight host John Oliver incorporates the rhetorical style of trolling.

Oliver often coordinates raids, propagates memes, engages in overtly antagonistic behaviour, and uses irreverence to reveal flaws in systems of power. The article explains how the goal for trolls is ‘lulz’. Which it describes as “chaotic humor arising from mischief and delighting in the anger or misfortune of others (and is hilarious to see in an academic article). The article also cites the shows trolling of Robert Murray, the CEO of mining company Murray Energy Corp as an example and the media attention that the subsequent lawsuit between Last Week Tonight and Murray Energy Corp got. The article praises how it got media coverage for a topic that was receiving little media attention as well as highlighting the relationship between the mining industry and President Donald Trump. Other examples of Oliver’s history of trolling are cited like with his website gofccyourself.com, which redirected users to the FCC’s comment section to vent their frustrations with net neutrality, which proved so popular it had to be temporarily shut down. As well as his fake storybook A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo a children’s book about a gay rabbit, parodying the very homophobic Vice President Mike Pence’s daughter’s storybook about their rabbit named Marlon Bundo.

Although the media attention that these segments got was good, the attention didn’t last particularly long. This flash-in-the-pan kind of media coverage that satirical news shows bring is a downside to trolling and the call to actions that trolling can bring along with it. Although very useful in creating buzz and attention, they tend to not be able to sustain the media and public’s attention for very long. Although trolling can be interpreted as cyber bullying or antagonistic behaviour in general, it is often for a good cause and brings temporary media hype and attention before quickly fading out without any real lasting effects.