Investigating news satire and parody in a post-broadcast era.

“News may seem to offer viewers information, but satire does more. Satire asks the audience to take a piece of news and play with it, test it, reflect on it, and question it.”

Sophia A McClennen (2011) America According to Colbert: Satire as Public Pedagogy, Palgrave Macmillan: New York, p.74

STUDIO PROMPT

To investigate comedy news production practices and to explore how comedy news may operate as alternative public pedagogy.

DESCRIPTION

News satire has continued to flourish in the post- broadcast era. However, it is important that we understand and continue to interrogate the ways that news satire and parody – or more broadly, comedy news – can productively blur the distinction between ‘news’ and ‘entertainment’. By offering critique of public figures and institutions, comedy news offers the possibility “to see the social and scientific anew” (Gray, Jones and Thompson 2009 9).

This studio will merge theory and practice through reading, viewing, discussion, and making of comedy news segments. Students are encouraged to play with the standard comedy news form, experiment with it, and potentially find ways to transform it as they research and create a series of satirical/parodic news segments.