Soooo once again we are graced with the 4 hours of intense studio development. The first two hours consisted of our regular debates about the weeks reading, arguing over how we can use satire without abusing it to the point where every individual could get sued or upset anyone watching. We also discussed the ideas of not only implementing satire within our comedy news skit but possibly incorporating some parody which would be an interesting and very different approach in carrying out our comical news. We then went through the list of chosen news segments favorited which will be used in our next project and the challenge of forming groups over who liked which segment the most began. Then the practicality of the studio approached, my group (B) sat down and talked to Leo about what we had research and how we were going to start the scripting process. My research of the implements of fear into media tactics was a highly acclaimed idea and was considered to be the initial opening segment after introducing the topic tough on crime. We then went into a studio again and practiced the news room structure, this time we had a city skyline poster as our backdrop behind the talent sitting on the desk and played with including icons within the segment. It looked very professional and Weekend update worthy, I have to admit this studio lesson was very exciting and has made me more enthusiastic and inspired to start our upcoming projects.

Nakita xx

‘Tough on Crime’ – focusing on the PSYCHOLOGY of it (FEAR)

Psychology: the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context (dictionary.com)

 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201704/how-and-why-societal-elites-manipulate-public-fear

 

• Societal Elites manipulate public fear
• MORAL PANIC- ‘a situation in which public fears and state interventions greatly exceed the objective threat posed to society by a particular individual or group who is/are claimed to be responsible for creating the threat in the first place.’
• Stanley Cohen created the concept in England 1960s in response to threats posed by youth groups
• However this implementation of fear provides benefits towards the media, politicians and law enforcement authorities
• Moral Panic formed through distortion of mass media campaigns
• Campaigns often based on race, ethnicity and social class through the reinforcement of stereotypes

MORAL PANIC CONVENTIONS:

1. Focus on Attention of Behavior – strip favorable characteristics and replace with negative ones.
2. Gap between Concern and Threat – objectively threat is less threatening than the image provided
3. Level of Concern Fluctuates- discover threat, rise in public concern, abrupt subside

• This public Hysteria then forces the public to address and vote the legislation to justify agendas of those in power
• Public and Political response to a distorted conception
• An ‘allegedly harmful individual or group’
• Can be an exaggeration – number of individuals involved, level of violence, amount of damage caused.

SOCIAL ACTORS INVOLVED:

1. The accused threat (group or individuals)
2. Rule or Law enforces
3. The Media (JOURNALISTIC HYPERBOLE)
4. Politicians
5. The Public

• PRIMING- ‘pays attention to the troublesome issue at hand and brings about old information from this issue, bringing back old memories from that issue’
• Triggers the Publics pre-existent beliefs, attitudes and prejudices from the issue
• Law enforcers and Politicians have a sworn identity to protect the public
• President Ronald Regan U.S. war on drugs 1980s
• The Public is the central actors within the concept of Moral Panic
• Politicians + Law Enforces + Media = Moral Panic outcry from the Public
• (1) Cohen, S. 1972. Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. London: MacGibbon and Key Ltd.
• (2) Tuchman, G. 1978. Making News: A Study in the Social Construction of Reality. New York: The Free Pres

 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201706/how-the-news-media-make-monsters

 

• Massive Media exposure labels the evil
• Social construction of evil and public monsters
• Typically stylized and exaggerated
• Journalistic Hyperbole
• Public concern and Anxiety is heightened
• Scaring the Public through Advertising
• Jeffery Dahmer as the ‘Milwaukee Cannibal’
• ‘Jeffery Dahmer: Man or Monster?’
• Shortly after Dahmer’s capture, the front cover of People magazine published on August 12, 1991 read: Horror in Milwaukee: He was a quiet man who worked in a chocolate factory. But at an apartment 213 a real-life “Silence of the Lambs” was unfolding. Now that Jeffrey Dahmer has confessed to 17 grotesque murders, his troubling history of alcoholism, sex offenses and bizarre behavior raises a haunting question: Why wasn’t he stopped?
• Comparison between fictional evil characters and focusing on the most evil aspect eg. Dahmer it was cannibalism
• Ideas of dehumanization
• Refer to evils in supernatural terms eg. Monster, alien
• Blur the distinction between reality and fiction
• Exaggerated Journalistic Rhetoric

 

https://www.artinstitutes.edu/about/blog/the-four-letter-word-in-advertising-fear

 

• Fear appears to strike a nerve with audiences, it provides scare tactics that are stunningly effective
• Fear is an effective advertising technique as it’s a sensation that escalates instantaneously through the individuals response
• Sometimes a fear advert makes it’s audience stop and think, in the long run it causes frustration
• Fear appeals when it alerts or gathers awareness towards the public
• Ethical questions can emerge when the advert at hand is too graphic and employs excessive amounts of fear tactics

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