Broadcast news is defined by its ‘live-ness’ or sometimes simulation of being live with pre-recorded content. The show adheres to the ritualistic nature of society which is crucial to the ideological authority of the media itself as personification of television in your home. Where the show is positioned in the schedule is designed for the nuclear family audience, for example the five o’clock news affords the ideal of the imagined family, a time when the father gets home from work and the children from school therefore being home to hear the current events. The flow and segmentation work so that a complex number of events come to together to make the show, with a hierarchy in relation to what is seen as important or ‘breaking news’. And lastly there is a typical authoritative nature about the anchor as the voice of the nation, being the only person addressing you directly they work to achieve a simulation of conversation.
“At varying points… increasingly from the mid-1970s onwards, TV escaped the confines of domestic space: platforms of delivery proliferated, and TV screens began to appear everywhere,” and, “as TV mutated, it’s solid normativity… began to unravel” (Turner, G and Tay, J; 2009). A post-broadcast era saw changes in television institutions/major players, technologies of production distribution and consumption, audience practices and aesthetic sensibilities. Some of these changes can be seen in The Daily Show episode ‘Parliament Slight’ aired in the lecture.
It should be noted that when you turn on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart visually there’s not much difference to a typical broadcast news show as identified above. A smartly dressed, educated and well-spoken middle aged man sits behind a desk with geographical screens in the background – however, Stewart uses these ideals for a completely different agenda than to simply report to the public. Stewart “provid[es] a counterbalance to the staid traditional news reporter through his use of jokes and exaggerated faces,” (Painter, C and Hodges, L; 2010) and represents the voice of the people, conveyed in the conversational tone the people speak in. The content of The Daily Show is another aspect that is representational of post-broadcast as the topics aren’t the big stories but subjects that would be seen as a type of filler in a broadcast situation. The content also identifies the conflict between the American and British systems, as Stewart, “uses comedy to illustrate his anger,” over the censorship of his show in the UK and, “interrogates the content of the news media, the ‘real’ news that is arguably failing its democratic function” (Painter, C and Hodges, L; 2010). Through this we are able to identify a difference of broadcast systems over cultural backgrounds – US television system though driven by commercial market exhibits a fundamental freedom by trying to create a conversation, while the British television system, which was derived from the end of the war notion with an empire in pieces, was and arguably still is made to restore the confidence people once had.
The segments are also longer and sometimes rely on pre-determined knowledge of the show to understand the punch line. There is a live audience and emphasis on their presence through reactions, a significant factor to the comedic side of the show. By airing the show at 11/10 central along with similar television series like The Colbert Report (2005), the show displays an understanding of audience practices in scheduling to adapt to the modern viewer and therefore takes a later time slot to traditional news. Furthermore, the show demonstrates an acceptance towards personal news and online aggregation with the ability for viewers to watch clips online. However, there are also limits on distribution, for example in trying to obtain the clip from class I was met by the lovely message below on the Comedy Central website. The message in itself is a perfect example of how distribution has changed, as though there is more content than in a solely broadcast realm, that content isn’t always made readily available to the entire public as there are still television institutions and major players who have the ability to control what we watch and where.
Through this comparison of broadcast and post-broadcast news we can see there are a broader body of codes and conventions ingrained in cultural characteristics, it’s how these things are changing in the environment and being reinvented that continues to evolve television to a post-broadcast environment.
References
Painter, C and Hodges, L, 2010. ‘Mocking the News: How The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Holds Traditional Broadcast News Accountable.’ Journal of Mass Media Ethics, vol.25, Taylor & Francis Group, pp.257-274.
Turner, G and Tay, J, 2009. ‘Television Studies After TV: Understanding Television in the Post-Broadcast Era.’ Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 1-6.