the news/entertainment divide

the news/entertainment divide
I think it is absolutely essential in a democracy to have competition in the media, a lot of
competition, and we seem to be moving away from that.
~ Walter Cronkite (2003)
the news/entertainment divide
§ Mass media forms perform a multitude of functions such as
disseminating news, providing entertainment, transmitting culture,
aiding commerce, connecting people, and acting as a watchdog.
PBS’s NOVA (1974-present)
It s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005-present)
§ The postmodern world is one of quotation, pastiche, simulation, and
cynicism: a general and all encompassing irony.
§ With so many perspectives aimed at a variety of consumers, the lines
that separate valuable and valueless entertainment become blurred.
the news/entertainment divide
§ Infotainment is information-based media content or programming
(“hard” news) that also includes entertainment content (“soft” news) in
an effort to enhance popularity with audiences and consumers.
§ Infotainment is not a new concept in news media, but it has become of
much greater concern with the rise of cable news, the twenty-four-hour
news cycle, political pundit shows, and the growing popularity of forms
that parody them (The Onion, The Daily Show, etc.).
Fox’s The Sean Hannity Show (2009-present)
MSNBC’s Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann (2003-11)
the news/entertainment divide
§ Viewers watch infotainment because it presents news stories in an
episodic format that helps simplify otherwise complex information.
§ Its focus is human-interest issues, violent crime, and other topics where
a public policy component is not wholly central to the story.
Simplicity in Shepard Smith Reporting (2013-present)
Binary rhetoric of The Ed Show (2009-2015)
§ Pundits frame news stories into “good versus evil” and “us versus them”
binaries that simplify the issues, and connect with the way many
Americans think.
the news/entertainment divide
§ Infotainment often develops and exhibits a set of characteristics that
Maurizio Lazzarato calls “antagonisms and contradictions”;
relationships that are equally useful to power as those critiquing power.
§ Satires are supposed to antagonize news programs, yet end up
participating in the form they seek to satirize. News programs and
pundit shows are supposed to provide information, yet end up
contradicting themselves with an abundance of entertainment content.
Glenn Beck on The O’Reilly Factor (9/25/10)
Antagonisms in The Colbert Report (2005-2014)
Contradictions in Huckabee (2008-2014)
the news/entertainment divide
§ Where this becomes problematic is in the interstices of politics, news,
and entertainment, the increasingly small spaces between, and thin lines
that separate them.
§ News is drifting ever more towards political infotainment, and politics
is becoming the realm of Hollywood production values.
The Obama birth certificate scandal
Parody in Saturday Night Live (1975-present)
§ Entertainment takes political undertones while also informing the
audience, creating the illusion of the presence of the history of
American journalism and its watchdog function.
the news/entertainment divide
World News Tonight
With David Muir
Created by
Roone Arledge
ABC News
(2015) 22 mins.
The Daily Show
With Trevor Noah
Created by
Madeline Smithberg
& Lizz Winstead
#mediabuzz
With Howard Kurtz
Created by
Howard Kurtz
Fox News Channel
(2015) 47 mins.
Comedy Central
(2015) 22 mins.