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Media Literacy Effects of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart By Jonan Donaldson
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has an educational effect in terms of media literacy. The show has for many years spent considerable time deconstructing media messages and making critical thinking concerning such messages a central theme. The show influences beliefs not only concerning political issues, but also influences beliefs concerning mainstream media. Jon Stewart regularly addresses the core concepts of media literacy:
- All media messages are constructed.
- Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules.
- Different people experience the same media message differently.
- Media have embedded values and points of view.
- Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power. (Thoman, 2008 This essay will point to the pedagogical function of The Daily Show, although there are related shows with a similar capacity to educate such as The Colbert Report. In these shows, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert "are making a contribution to media ethics by serving as media critics" (Borden & Tew, 2007). Watching The Daily Show regularly can be as educational in terms of media literacy as an undergraduate-level media literacy class.
All Media Messages are Constructed
The Daily Show consistently points to the constructedness of all media, including itself. "Stewart gives us insight into the very constructedness of his mediated form and style, and one’s voice itself as always potentially prone to errors. Not only does Stewart imagine the world in many ways, but he adroitly calls attention to these very imaginings. As such, his communication
is highly pluralistic and reflexive" (Waisanen, 2009). Although politicians are the primary target of critical analysis, much of the content of The Daily Show is aimed squarely at the media and the journalists who traditionally have been viewed as the most objective aspect of the media. "Stewart and Colbert use the flawed performances of journalists to criticize journalists’ integrity" (Borden & Tew, 2007). By doing so, Stewart plays the role of educator. The educational success of this form of media literacy education has been confirmed by a study which found that "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart... [is] significantly related to respondents 18-25 saying they were less likely to trust what news organizations say" (Fox, et al, 2010).
Media Messages are Constructed Using a Creative Language with its Own Rules
One of the ways The Daily Show teaches media literacy is by making the language and rules of journalism explicit through breaking those rules. " The Daily Show is the best critical media literacy program on television. It brilliantly and humorously critiques the mainstream media's political news coverage, as well as its journalistic conventions" (Trier, 2008). By breaking the rules, the show educates the public about those rules. "Most of the mainstream media conforms to certain journalistic conventions that The Daily Show violates" (Trier, 2008:2). Journalistic conventions are broken many times in each episode, and with each instance both educating the public and pushing journalists and others in the mainstream news media. "By violating some formal conventions of media commentary (e.g., acting-out voices), Stewart models the necessity for rhetors to constantly go beyond the given, generating arguments and looking for alternate ways of constructing any event" (Waisanen, 2009).
The genius of The Daily Show is that in no other way besides assuming the role of journalist could one break the rules of journalism. "Stewart and Colbert do not inhabit the role of
Media have Embedded Values and Points of View
The fact that media have embedded values and points of view is made explicit in nearly every The Daily Show episode, sometimes in terms of mainstream media, and often in terms of The Daily Show itself. In fact, it is evident that educating the public about media (media literacy) is a core mission of the show, although Stewart claims that his mission is to be funny. "They play the role of speaking what goes unsaid in mainstream news, or of highlighting the non-sense of what is said" (Borden & Tew, 2007). He does this by showing the embedded values and points of view in media companies that claim to be objective. However, he does not call for journalists to be more objective, but to admit or even take ownership of their points of view: "Stewart reminds journalists and the audience that, at times, journalists need to embrace a subjective stance and call it like they see it rather than hide behind objectivity" (2007).
The Daily Show gets at truth in ways mainstream media sometimes fails to do. Smolkin claims that "Stewart and his team often seem to steer closer to the truth than traditional journalists" (2007). By pointing out the "spin" in the media, he is able to get closer to truth while simultaneously making the audience aware that pure objectivity and truth are difficult or even impossible to achieve. "In our contemporary context politics often comes across as crass marketing and sales operations. Critically exposing the staging and spinning may help people to see the fabrication process at work and develop independent perspectives on it" (Bennett, 2007). In this way Stewart is able to deal with the cognitive dissonance inherent in the pursuit of truth while being aware that the truth is subjective. His audience also confronts this cognitive dissonance: "Our research reveals how digital dissent (political blogs, viral videos, online discussion of Jon Stewart’s appearance on Crossfire, MoveOn.org’s Bush in 30 Seconds Contest) expresses simultaneously a demand for truthfulness, alongside a contradictory 'postmodern'
sensibility that 'all the world’s a fiction'" (Boler, 2008). Stewart develops media literacy in his audience by hammering away at the spin in the mainstream media, teaching the audience to be always aware of the fact that all media messages have embedded values and points of view.
Most Media Messages are Organized to Gain Profit and/or Power
At the heart of any democracy is the value that people--a balance of majority and minority values and interests--have power. For this value to be realized, the people need to have a deep understanding of the powers against which they must assert their own power. "Stewart and Colbert’s strategy of satirical specificity performs essential democratic functions by directing critical accountability toward the suasive, mystifying merger terms in politics and media" (Waisanen, 2009). The Daily Show educates the audience about the way those with political and economic power use the media for their own ends. The show plays an important educational function in society because "these comic strategies encourage the critique and innovation of perspectives in public life. They set in motion pluralistic communication and awareness and summon accountability toward politics and media" (2009). Stewart teaches the audience to think critically about media messages by making explicit the profit and power goals of those who create the messages.
A Week in the Life of The Daily Show: Media Literacy in Action
The Daily Show consists of four twenty-minute episodes a week airing from Monday through Thursday. The educational function of the show in terms of media literacy can be glimpsed through a sampling of a week of shows. The following is a brief summary of media literacy aspects gleaned from the week of July 5th to 8th, 2010.
On the Thursday episode, Stewart showed clips of mainstream media reporting on John McCain's position concerning new immigration laws in Arizona. The first clip shows McCain recently supporting the legislation using anti-immigrant and anti-amnesty language, followed by a second clip from several years prior in which McCain uses language diametrically opposed to that of the first clip. He makes it obvious that the mainstream media only reports the most current positions and does not hold them accountable by pointing out extreme changes in position (Stewart, 2010: 7/8).
Why the Daily Show Matters (Media Literacy Educational Function)
The Daily Show plays an important educational role in our society, especially in terms of media literacy. "Media literacy education received in school or even university cannot be expected to retain its relevance over time in our rapidly evolving information environment" (Moody, 2009). Media literacy education is not limited to the classroom. Gray asserts that "Traditionally, media literacy education theory has focused largely on education in the classroom, and few have discussed the potential for television to teach itself" (2005). Although the show claims to be entertainment focusing only on comedy, "since jokes make us laugh, many viewers are likely to seek out parody, and few of us are likely to feel imposed upon in the way we might react to more overtly didactic messages" (2005). The Daily Show can "teach media processes, form, and ideology in a relaxed and appealing manner could make such programs useful allies to traditional K-12 and college programs or classes" (2005).
By helping its viewers to become media literate, The Daily Show benefits a democratic society. A study by Fox, et al, "found Stewart's program to be just as substantive as the broadcast networks' campaign coverage" (Fox, et al, 2010). Other studies have found that The Daily Show
viewers rank #1 in "best informed" citizens (Borden & Tew, 2007). Critical analysis of mainstream media enables an educational function by which "people exposed to Jon Stewart do not retreat behind a smug veil of cynicism, but, instead, employ cynicism as a perspective- building tool to engage with politics and civic life" (Bennett, 2007). Because of this educational function, Colletta concludes that "the informed satire of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert can, arguably, be considered some of the most bracing and engaging commentary on the television landscape" (2009). Although media literacy should continue to be increasingly embedded in traditional academic curricula at all grade levels, The Daily Show plays an important role in educating the public in terms of media literacy.
Sources Cited
Bennett, W. (2007). Relief in hard times: A defense of Jon Stewart's comedy in an age of cynicism. Critical Studies in Media Communication , 24 (3), 278-283.
Boler, Megan. (2008). Digital media and democracy : Tactics in hard times. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.
Borden, S., & Tew, C. (2007). The role of journalist and the performance of journalism: Ethical lessons from "fake" news (seriously). Journal of Mass Media Ethics , 22 (4), 300-314.
Colletta, L. (2009). Political satire and postmodern irony in the age of Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. Journal of Popular Culture , 42 (5), 856-874.
Stewart, J. (Writer and Presenter), & O'Neil, C. (Director). (2010: 7/8). The Daily Show, July 8th, 2010. [Television series episode]. Rory Albanese, Josh Lieb, & Jon Stewart (Executive producers). New York, NY: Comedy Central.
Thoman, E. & Jolls, T. (2008). Literacy for the 21st century: An overview & orientation guide to media literacy education. Center for Media Literacy. http://www.medialit.org/pdf/mlk/01a_mlkorientation_rev2.pdf.
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Trier, James. (2008). The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Part 2. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 51.7.
Waisanen, D. (2009). A Citizen's guides to democracy inaction: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's comic rhetorical criticism. Southern Communication Journal , 74 (2), 119-140.
