The class discussion about South Park and The Simpsons were interesting because I think they are a good starting point when learning about satire. As a child I knew The Simpsons mocked stuff, but I didn’t understand why it mocked all that stuff. These cartoons are a good way to introduce young people to satire and political commentary without overwhelming them. Adult viewing of these shows isn’t a productive way to engage with political satire because making fun of everything enforces social norms, and effectively challenges nothing.

In the video Comedians have figured out the trick to covering Trump, I don’t entirely agree with the narrator when he says “traditional journalists don’t always know when to call bullshit”. Trump chooses which news outlets he engages and agrees with based on their coverage of him. If Fox News condemned Trump during his presidency, he would have called them a ‘fake news’ outlet and they would have undoubtedly lost viewership. He knows which TV channels his supporters watch, and thus knows he will receive favourable coverage by them. I do agree that by news networks debating Trumps outrageous claims like this, they are giving them legitimacy.

Because Trump isn’t a career politician and hasn’t had the same kind of media training as previous presidents, he is a threat to traditional news media. Satirists capitalise on this by outright debunking and making fun of Trump’s baseless ideas which encourages public pedagogy. Trump and his supporters are unable to effectively attack comedy news because they aren’t given air time.

At the end of the video, McClennen says “We think that a journalist’s job is to show all sides of the story, but the journalist’s job is to show the truth. And sometimes, in this case, going after the truth is going to be funny because the lies are so absurd that you can’t help but laugh”. Journalists are expected to be apolitical (although this is impossible) which allows political satirists to show their subjective comedic opinion.

Maza, C. and Lowndes, C., 2017. Comedians have figured out the trick to covering Trump. [online] Youtube.com.

Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fUDIucr2eo&t=336s> [Accessed 13 August 2021].