Published in the Aug. 19 – Sept. 1, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Marty Cheek, publisher Morgan Hill Life
The famous astronomer Sir William Hershel must have got a laugh when a six-part series appeared in The New York Sun detailing his supposed discovery through a telescope he built of lifeforms on the Moon, including such fantastic creatures as unicorns, two-legged beavers, and humanoids with wings like furry bats.
The first of these satire stories, supposedly reprinted from the Edinburgh Journal of Science, appeared Aug. 25, 1835. Readers were so taken in by the series and purchased so many copies that the penny press Sun became the largest circulating newspaper on Earth at that time in history.
The so-called “Great Moon Hoax” helped to start a trend in journalism — the news satire or fake news story has become a tradition in democratic countries with a free press allowing these off-beat items.
Although as a professional journalist I never engaged in news fakery, I see a tremendous benefit to it in the impact of social commentary through comedy. Fake news can provide a refreshing perspective for media and politics in America today.
Even great authors of American literature have partaken in news parody. In the mid-1860s, reporter Samuel Clemens, more famously known as Mark Twain, wrote a fake news story in Nevada that forced him to flee that state due to a challenge of a duel. And the satirical stories he wrote as a reporter in San Francisco, particularly those bringing attention to the mistreatment by police of Chinese inhabitants, outraged public officials and citizens alike.
The Brits took fake news to a new level with a satirical TV comedy program on BBC called “That Was the Week That Was.” Presented by David Frost in the early 1960s, the ground-breaking show lampooned the powers that be and derided political figures with sharp-pointed comic commentary.
The show helped to open up television to other fake news commentary such as “Saturday Night Live’s” “Weekend Update” segments and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”
It’s interesting how “The Daily Show” and its spin-off “The Colbert Report” have in a certain respect brought news satire to a higher level of social and political commentary. Stewart ended his 16-year run on the show earlier this month, and critics have made comparisons in media advocacy with him and the real journalist Edward R. Murrow, who started his legendary career on radio during the German Blitz of London.
Murrow later moved to television where he took on Sen. Joseph McCarthy and turned public opinion against the excesses of the communist-obsessed politician during the height of the Red Scare witch hunts.
Stewart insists he is a comedian and not a professional journalist, which is true. But his impact from several segments broadcast on “The Daily Show” could be just as significant as Murrow’s going after McCarthy.
Occasionally, Stewart took a moment away from news satire and held a thoughtful conversation with guests — including in 2010 a television interview with responders of the 9/11 attack who were facing health issues from the dust that got into their lungs while rescuing people. The attention helped the Senate in 2010 pass a bill to provide aid to the New York City responders.
HBO gave “Daily Show” protege John Oliver his own news satire commentary show a couple of years ago — and it has taken the art of fake news to an even higher realm than Stewart’s news parody program. Every episode of Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” puts a comedy-fueled spotlight on an issue in the news that is not getting coverage by the mainstream media but is a story of public interest.
Oliver traveled to Russia to interview Edward Snowden, the government contractor who in 2013 leaked classified information from the National Security Agency, embarrassing the U.S. government with the revelations of global surveillance operations including some on world leaders who are considered friends of America. Oliver’s in-depth conversation with Snowden combined graphically-explicit comedy and thought-provoking commentary at the same time, with the two making sexual jokes in relation to the scary amount of intelligence power, both domestic and foreign, the American government has at its disposal.
Maybe news satire by its very nature has to have a liberal bent. Satirical comedy demands the poking of holes into the overblown stuffing of politicians of all partisanship leanings and a deconstruction of sacred traditions and outdated ideologies.
Conservative-oriented news parody shows have been tried, with FOX News launching a media satire program in February 2007 titled “The 1/2 Hour News Hour” which was described as “The Daily Show for conservatives.” The cable station canceled it after a few months. FOX News in 2007 launched the more successful “Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld.” The libertarian commentator left the show in March, to be replaced by comedian Tom Shillue.
Fake news serves to educate the public about current events as it entertains and squeezes out a few laughs at the expense of politicians’ egos.
On occasions, the comedians engage in news satire that can also bring change to America through spotlighting an injustice or a government or societal stupidity. I’m sure these fake news comedians get a nod from Edward R. Murrow — who, according to a recent media report, is right now on the Moon standing beside a unicorn and a two-legged beaver looking down on our planet through a telescope built by Sir William Hershel.
