Jon Stewart, in his mission to satirize the news, was too successful. Ultimately his work resulted in the
proliferation of the news comedy format ad nauseum. A conglomerate that has become large enough
to resemble the thing they set out to mock. Let's start with news networks.
They too were victims of their own success. Meaning that their success made them betray their ideals.
News started out as a much humbler servient profession. Sure, it was still partisan
but there was a whole lot less of it. And it carried some form of values, including: truth, independence, fairness, and impartiality.
But in the 60s this changed. News networks realized that by getting
advertisers involved you could make heaps of cash, hand over fist, fist over mics
And there's a lot of nuance that I have to skate over here
but in essence, those values of journalism, the reason most got into the game - They're squeezed in the 24/7 news cycle
This was one of Jon Stewart's main premises in The Daily Show,
that the 24-hour news cycle is a system that is antithetical to good honest journalism.
STEWART: The media in general, you said it yourself. It's focused on conflict.
It's focused on creating drama and a false sense of urgency. For better or for worse, the 24 hour networks
are now the leading light of our information age. 24 hour news networks are built for one thing, and that's 9/11.
In the absence of that, they're not just going to say, "there's not that much important or conflicted happening today"
So we are going to gin up we are going to bring forth more conflict and more sensationalism
because we want you to continue watching us 24 hours a day, seven days a week
even when the news doesn't necessarily warrant that type of behavior.
And in this ecosystem Stewart thrived precisely because he wasn't a journalist he's there to throw popcorn at the
TV. He's there to mock sensational dialogue and insincerity, and The Daily Show finds enormous success.
But Stewart made a mark beyond himself. In the wake of his success The Daily Show turned out satire hosts
the way SNL turned out comedians. the Daily Show's original correspondence now correspond almost completely
to the current comedy news programming: Jon Oliver, Samantha Bee, Stephen Colbert, Jordan Kepler.
There are a glut of these - all daily show apprentices. And many of these have found a lot of success,
which has had ripple effects across late-night who are scrambling to compete with what is working.
Jimmy Kimmel has found his political vocal cords and although he sounds very earnest isn't that good timing?
Jimmy Fallon tried it on, Seth Meyers show has gone political, and SNL has raised their already politicized show to a fever pitch of grandstanding.
The list could go on. So let's summarize:
We've got a bunch of really successful shows making money hand over fist that are all competing for the same eyes,
reliant on corrupt, crazy, sensational things to happen every day to make into theater for their nightly shows.
line up all these shows and they start to resemble something, something that would garner spitballs from the back:
They all sound the same.
Colbert: ...spoken like a guy who's suspiciously worried that racist presidents don't get statues anymore.
Meyers: Is Donald Trump a racist? I'll let you decide yes for yourself.
Bee: America might be white supremacist. Noah: So in my opinion, this has everything to do with race.
They can be hypercritical of political villains and apologists for political allies.
CLINTON PARODY: Thank you, Steven. That's what I love about America,
you know, it's the only place where a Secretary of State can be put on equal footing with a screaming cantaloupe.
[Applause] COLBERT: Okay, fair enough, fair enough.
Are you concerned about the news that Russians may have hacked our election?
PARODY TRUMP: No, Hilary lies because she didn't campaign in the swing states.
Moscow, it's a red state!
[Laughter] COLBERT: Okay I understand. No, I understand.
They've become de facto journalists serving many Americans their news.
And they've become political actors. MIKE MEYERS: don't vote for Stephen Harper.
[Applause] STEWART: Exactly! Exactly! Don't do it!
Satire news became what they beheld: They over-dramatize the absurdity of politics to make headlines,
they pander to a political party instead of at least trying to be centrist, and
during slow news days with so many political comedy shows what can they do but to use Stewart's phrase:
"We are going to gin up,
We are going to bring forth more conflict and more sensationalism because we want you to continue watching us
24 hours a day, seven days a week even when the news doesn't necessarily warrant that type of behavior."?
All of the things that John Stewart set out to ridicule in news networks all our failings that his own protegees have.
And that is the tragedy of Jon Stewart.
COLBERT: I think so. If I'm wrong, I'm joking obviously