Through the studio readings the ideas of humour as Social Critique is throughly introduced and explored. Satire, being the main form of humorous expression within a comedy news segment. Laughter should toy with norms and challenge liberation through prevailing truth from the news presentation norm. The better the material researched and presented, the more powerful and funnier it is.Satire is therefore an expression of social and political criticism.It encapsulates the absurdity, dragging it out for viewers to witness, the purpose of this is positive change. Satire is provocative, ridicules, asserts the unsettling truths. Parody however draws on aesthetic conventions, in contrast to Satire’s social conventions. Parody ‘makes fun’ of how the text or genre operates, it aims to decontextualise how we make sense of this. Satire provokes reflection and re-evaulation from it’s active audience.

Nakita xx

The News is A Joke (Media 2 Studio) Project Brief 1: Develop a comedy news ideas

 

‘Mum’s the word: it’s embarrassing’ by Chris Kenny sourced from ‘The Australian’ 25th of July 2017 at 6:21pm

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/chris-kenny/matt-canavans-resignation-blunts-attacks-on-the-greens/news-story/d64fd55a96fdfcf0cdf9c3fb56f39d23

 

Brief outline on article:

 

Chris Kenny’s ‘Mum’s the word:it’s embarrassing’ written for the Australian on July the 25th acclaims Matt Canavan guilty of attaining a Dual Citizenship as a leader in Parliament. The article goes into detail suggesting this embarrassing dilemma the government is facing due to a lack of proper investigation. Kenny mentions how this dilemma has happened recently to other members of Parliament, Two senators from the Greens party, he then goes into detail explaining how Canavan got stuck in this dreaded situation (his mother) and what his plans are to overcome it (change the constitution, question the citizenship’s validity etc.) The article ends stating that this possibly isn’t going to be the final resignation from Parliament due to a dual citizenship crisis, as there are many other foreign federal MP’s who need to be checked in regards to their renunciation of citizenship.

 

Brief outline on comedy sketch:

 

The recent issue in regards to Dual Citizenship, focusing in particular on Matt Canavan’s crisis, would provide great scope for a comedy news segment, as it contains many satirical, ironic possibilities.

 

Matt Canavan has made recent news as his dual citizenship scandal positions him to be the next member of Australian parliament to be resigned. However there are some unusual, quite comedic, circumstances regarding this issue. Such as the idea of Canavan’s mother applying him as an Italian citizen without him knowing, blaming his mother for this dual citizenship disaster, Canavan now questions Italy in regards to his citizenship being valid, He also suggests changing the constitution to stay in Parliament. Another point is that the greens have lost two senators in regards to this crisis and makes people question whether they will fight back and claim some special treatment like Canavan, The idea of Canavan following in the greens footsteps indicates in a joking manner he wants to be part of the green party, other federal MP’s need to prove they are not a dual citizen suggesting to the people that we are going to possibly losing a lot of federal leaders, however the Head of State is a foreign citizen and one could make a joke that he doesn’t even have the second Australian citizenship. One last idea we could use is that Canavan’s father has been accused of Fraud by Nestle seven years ago, we could suggest that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

 

WTherefore there is a number of ways that this one article and also debate on the Dual Citizenship controversy can be positioned as a comedy news segment due to the ironic, satirical, coincidental and out-right claims Canavan’s crisis suggests.

 

• Mattt Canavan, a mummys boy? His mum applied Canavan for an Italian Citizen ship. Well thankyou mummy, but get this Canavan said this was unbeknown to him.
• Matt Canavan so badly wants to stay in Parliament that he questions if the citizenship is valid
• Matt Canavan so badly wants to stay in Parliament that he is suggesting to change the constitution
• In Relation to this, the Greens also claim that they were unaware of their dual citizenship crisis? Are they also going to attempt to claim special treatment in this case like Canavan?
• Maybe Canavan just wants to be in the Greens? As he follows in their footsteps, drowning in the same crisis.
• Several other federal MP’s are born overseas and still need to display thier official renunciation of any secondary citizenship? Jesus, does this mean everyone in Parliament has to resign?
• Is Matt Canavan embodying the phrase ‘like father, like son’. 7 years ago his father was accused of Fraud by Nestle.
• However the Australian Head of State has a foreign citizenship? Not even an Australian Citizenship? Where’s his dual citizenship?
• How can Canavan have his mother apply on his behalf? Does Italy realise that he’s 25, he can make his own grown up decisions!

So on Thursday this week, I finally started the highly anticipated studio class. The first two hours I found myself in a studio room in Building 9 learning about the studio, what we will be learning, what we will be reading, what assessments we must complete and found myself asking the most talked about question within our studio ‘What makes up a comedy news segment?’ Then I was in building 5 and actually got to see where the practical work of this studio takes place. Cameras everywhere, headsets, green screens, tele prompters, control rooms. It was all too much to take in, however I could feel my  inner anchorwoman arising. I look forward to the weeks to come and  to explore what this exciting studio has to offer.

Nakita xx

So it’s back to uni this week and not only is it the introduction of new subjects for the semester but also STUDIOS. The studio I am enrolled in this semester is The News is a Joke.  In Week 2 we are currently infused with the ideas as to why comedy news work. It is this combination of satire and parody that effectively work with an active audience to produce a mixture of entertainment and meaning, to enable society to understand the world and teaches us sometimes more effectively than regular news. As Russell Peterson said ‘Genuine Satire can give us information and insight that enhances our ability to fulfil our role as citizens in a democracy’.

Nakita xx