Comedy as a Main News Source

My dad, who is from Iran, showed me this article and video the other day. Basically, the Daily Show and Colbert Report sent "correspondents" to Iran and Iraq to interview the people there and show how much they hate Americans. In the Daily Show's visit to Iran, Jason Jones approached the Iranian public asking them crazy questions about how much they hate Americans. The Iranian people just looked at him like he was crazy and said that no, they don't really have any bad feelings towards Americans. The whole segment is presented from a comedic standpoint of course but as a viewer, you are definitely able to see the truth behind all of this exaggerated talk about Iranians "hating" Americans. Jones even goes into an Iranian home that looks like it could be right here in America. They have all of the same things Americans have- even a Wii.

The article I have posted here is talking about how these comedy shows have brought out the truth about how the people in these countries. Lots of Americans have a perception about people from the Middle East- for example: darker skinned, cave living, turban wearing people who hate Americans and want to bomb the U.S. The videos show how messed up those perceptions actually are. The people in those areas, in general, don't live in caves or feel badly towards Americans. This article brings up the strength of comedy as a news source in America. People relate more and pay more attention to the comedy shows, and, in my opinion, they are a great way to provide the truth for Americans. I like that people are getting the truth from these well known comedic shows, but this also shows that people are NOT getting the real information from real news sources. The fact that people are having to get the truth from comedy shows the lack of interest in the news or perhaps the misrepresentation provided by the news. Either way, the answer to this problem pints to the idea that, as viewers, we are going to have to be as well-rounded as possible and pay attention to a number of different news sources to have a real idea of what is going on. Watch the video! It's funny! :)

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/commerce/090630/fake-news-goes-global?page=0,0

Enough about.....

Enough about Tiger Woods crashing a car!!!! I know this is blunt but why should we care about the reason Tiger Woods pulled out of his drive way and crashed a car? People crash cars everyday. Are we hearing major news coverage of all of these incidents? No. Yes, Tiger Woods is famous and very well known across the nation and even the world. But what I want to know is why I have heard more about this little accident through the media than anything pertinent to me as an American citizen. I think the media's coverage of this situation has been a little over- board as is alot of celebrity coverage, and I think it shows alot about our nation's culture.

Fox News Slip-up

I found this article on mediabistro.com which was a link I found through politico.com. I thought i t was a good reminder and example of how the media is certainly prone to making mistakes. Fox News aired footage of Sarah Palin saying that the footage was of her at her new book releases. The footage they showed; however, was from Palin on the campaign trail during election time. The next day, Fox had to apologize and explain what happened. I like that the media, in this case, took responsibility and admitted they made a mistake. This situation also makes me wonder how much the media actually lets us believe is true when it is, in fact, a mistake. If I had seen Palin at her so called "book release" that day on Fox, I would have never known the difference. It's our job as viewers to know the facts and be familiar with everything that is going on in our world, and it's the media's job to present the information as accurately as possible. This definitely put up my guard toward believing everything I hear on the news. Here's the link to the article.....

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/fnc/fox_news_uses_old_palin_footage_apologizes_143716.asp