To begin with, I was attracted to NIAJ studio, because I loved watching comedy news. I found the manner sad news get changed to a series of jokes that stimulate the viewers’ minds to further think about them to be just amazing. Also, more and more people (around me) stopped watching traditional TV news mainly because it depresses them, but with comedy news…you don’t have to be depressed anymore! So, that was my initial take on satire and comedy news.

Later on, I understood satire with more depth. From the third week, I examined the way satire has changed journalism practices, while mocking them. It stupefied me how comedy news uses ‘satire to interrogate power, parody to critique contemporary news, and dialogue to enact a model of deliberative democracy’ (Geoffrey 2005, p.261). Coming from the middle east, democracy isn’t considered hip to say the least. So, the way comedy news is so opinionated and, consequently, protecting people from being enslaved to what the government wants them to think is inspiring to me. The way it does it is amazing too – by using humor to confront political misinformation and demanding accountability (Geoffrey, 2005).

Moreover, I got to define comedy news better now. I now realize that satire is simultaneously an old form of comedy and a new kind of journalism (Geoffrey, 2005). Also, I’m privileged to know that satire isn’t soft news that aim to only entertain, nor is it hard news that aim to only inform, but rather it’s a hybrid of the two – by which it enlightens its audience via entertainment (Littau & Stewart, 2015). This was especially helpful by laying the foundation of how to tackle our class project and assignment 4.

Aside from studying about comedy news in theory, this studio gave me the chance to put all that theoretical knowledge into practice. I’ve never been to a television studio before, so it was scary at first, but I’ve come to realize that once you know how to get around it..it can be the most fun experience! Furthermore, I’ve always known that I wanted to work in a studio-like place, but I never really knew how. However, I got to discover what I’m good at within the realms of a TV studio via this class project and assignment 4.

In conclusion, I’ve come to learn of the everlasting effect satire has on populations through the manner it addresses political discourse. Moreover, I got more acquainted with studio equipment and television production by putting research and develop the segments we’ve done. Overall, working with my fellow classmates, Ruth, and Ed made this learning experience a memorable one.

Reference:

Baym, Geoffrey. “The Daily Show: Discursive Integration and the Reinvention of Political Journalism” Political Communication, vol.22, no.3, 2005, pp.259-276.

Littau, J. & Stewart, D. R. C., 2015. ‘‘Truthiness’’ and Second-Level Agenda Setting: Satire News and Its Influence on Perceptions of Television News Credibility. Electronic News, 9(2), pp. 122-136.