Funny News

“You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore…”
- former President Richard Nixon to the press after losing his 1962 race for California Governor

Researchers from Pew have reminded us again that distrust of news organizations is on the rise. This trend started well before this Presidential election race, but the fury on the campaign trail is accelerating some viewer discontent. The McCain/Palin campaign has whipped up so much fury about the media on the campaign trail their supporters recently made obscene gestures at the media caravan that was covering their town hall gathering.

News parody shows like the Daily Show and the Colbert Report have benefited from this growing trust gap. Now CNN and other news outlets are imitating Comedy Central, with new shows like DL Hughley Breaks the News. The new CNN effort is more akin to The Tonight Show than the Daily Show, but it’s intent is clear: comic relief. “When you watch as much news as our audience does, there comes a time when you just want to stop and laugh” said CNN executive Jonathan Klein.

Audiences are finding satire to be a more genuine look at the day’s events. As fun as the Saturday Night Live skits have been, I’m disappointed that news organizations aren’t trying to solve their growing credibility problems by become more, well, credible. Maybe drawing a more clear line between opinion and fact would be a good start.

In a recent article, Pew reminds us of some historical attacks on the integrity of the press. Those with the biggest bully pulpits have been at the forefront of undermining trust of the media:

Thomas Jefferson once said that he would prefer newspapers without a government to a government without newspapers. In the aftermath of news reports regarding his personal life, he flipped sides and said, “The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”

Lyndon Johnson called the New York Times “a bunch of commies”, and in recent weeks Governor Sarah Palin whips up her crowds into a chorus of boos aimed at the “liberal media” and “The New York Times.” McCain campaign senior advisor said that the New York Times “is today not by any standard a journalistic organization.”

President H.W. Bush used this slogan on his campaign trail: “Annoy the media: re-elect Bush.” His son, President George W. Bush, claims to “glance at the headlines” but “rarely read the stories”, preferring instead to have “people on my staff [tell] me what’s happening in the world.”

Newt Gingrich ranted earlier this week about the Presidential election news coverage, “…we have been brainwashed, propagandized, insultingly lectured by the news media”.

Although I am dubious about the wisdom of CNN competing with Comedy Central, I am a big fan of using comedy and art to authentically speak out about society’s complex struggles. That’s why Camino PR published a book of cartoons last year. Here are a few of my favorites: