Media Subservience and Satirical Subversiveness: The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Propaganda Model and the Paradox of Parody

Abstract

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report are two television programs venerated for their comedic criticisms of mainstream media and society. The shows exemplify the art of sociopolitical satire, using humor to expose hypocrisies in media coverage, illuminate inconsistencies and facetiously reveal folly. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report arguably represent a legitimate form of news media, but they are distinct from the traditional media that Herman and Chomsky (1988/2002) assailed when formulating their propaganda model for US mass media. Notably, the two shows parody an industry that routinely propagandizes on behalf of powerful societal interests, and they satirize the status quo in an ostensibly subversive fashion. Using the propaganda model as a theoretical lens, this study examines The Daily Show and The Colbert Report to throw light on how the satirical news format informs the propaganda model. With the model as an analytical guide, this essay explores instances in which the two shows deconstructed dominant discourses and ideologies disseminated by commercial media. Conversely, strong hegemonic elements discovered within the discourses of both programs speak to the dichotomous nature of discursive humor and the inherent paradox of sociopolitical parody.

Keywords:

• Sociopolitical satire
• Dominant discourses
• Discursive humor
• Propaganda model

Notes

1. On the first episode of TCR, which aired October 17, 2005, during what would become a recurring segment called ‘The word,’ Stephen Colbert used the phrase ‘truthiness’ for the first time. He noted he was sure that ‘some of the word police, the “wordinistas” over at Webster's’ would argue it was not a word, but he preemptively retorted, ‘he's no fan of dictionaries or reference books—they're elitist, constantly telling us what is or isn't true and what did or didn't happen.’ He added, ‘I don't trust books. They're all fact, no heart.’ Colbert ended the segment indelibly: ‘That's where the truth comes from ladies and gentleman—the gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your stomach than in your head? Look it up. Now, somebody's going to say I did look that up and it's wrong. Well mister, that's because you looked it up in a book. Next time, try looking it up in your gut. I did, and my gut tells me that's how our nervous system works. Now I know some of you may not trust your gut, yet. But with my help, you will. The truthiness is anyone can read the news to you. I promise to feel the news at you.’

2. The propaganda model's fifth filter was originally termed ‘the ideology of anticommunism’ (Herman & Chomsky, 1988/2002, p. 29). The filter has been expanded to include the ‘ideological force of the belief in the “miracle of the market’” (Herman, 2000, p. 109). A revised final filter might subsume the grand neoliberal agenda and, according to Herman and Chomsky, be configured as ‘the “free market” as a principal ideological underpinning along with “anti-terrorism” and the “war on terror” that have provided the needed Enemy or Face of Evil, with anticommunism pushed into a back-up and reminder/ideological role’ (interview in Mullen, 2005, p. 15). Klaehn (2009) claims (the filter) could now apply to generalized ‘othering in the mainstream media’ (p. 45).

3. The chosen episodes were ideal to study as they came in the immediate wake of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The piece of health care legislation was hotly contested in the mainstream, and in commensurate fashion the rhetoric surrounding that contestation was highly satirized on TDS and TCR. Arguably, the sample, then, did not accurately reflect the ‘normal’ news skewering one might see on any given day, but we prefer to think of it as more of an ideal selection representing some of the strongest comedy each show has to offer.

4. Obamacare, enacted on March 23, 2010, is the Affordable Care Act that requires all US residents to carry minimal health insurance.

5. All of the dialogue was transcribed by the researchers. Our requests for official transcripts from Comedy Central were declined.

6. The Colbert Report. March 30, 2010.

7. The Daily Show. March 31, 2010.

8. It should be noted that, as Chomsky (2010) explained, the history of major government policies, including those under the Obama administration, are socialist—but they overwhelmingly represent a socialism for powerful private interests who reap enormous profits from public subsidies and tax-payer funded bail-outs.

9. The Daily Show. April 1, 2010.

10. The Daily Show. March 30, 2010.

11. The Colbert Report. March 30, 2010.

12. We would provide proper citation again here, but the ‘truthiness’ is axiomatic.