FAKE NEWS, DOES FAKE NEWS

by Malik Isasis






















SATIRE (sat'ir') noun
1. the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.
2. a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.
3. a literary genre comprising such compositions.

Sunday, February 18, 2007 was Fox News’ debut of its satire show “The 1/2 Hour News Show.” The 1/2 Hour Show is a take off on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” but with a twist, a conservative twist.

The show is Executive-produced by Joel Surnow, the creator of the successful show "24". Surnow only produced two pilot episodes, and if successful, will produce more.

Co-creator Ned Rice stated, "This is a show for people who watch other comedy shows and say, 'Yeah, OK, but why aren't you doing jokes about Nancy Pelosi? Why aren't you doing jokes about Ted Kennedy? Why aren't you doing jokes about all the global warming meetings that are being canceled by snowstorms?' "

Mr. Rice’s logic is interesting to say the least; the Republican Party held a trifecta of power for six years in all three branches of the government. In the past six years there has been September 11, 2001, a war in Afghanistan, invasion and Occupation of Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, nuclear proliferation, and a subsequent civil war due to the illegal invasion of Iraq. Those are a lot of events that would bring attention to the party in charge.

The sheer ineptitude of governance by the Republican Party invited satirizing due to the Peter Principle, which theorizes that a person will be promoted to the highest level of his/or her competence and eventually advance to a level of incompetence. The modern Republican Party implodes every other generation under its own ineptitude and rises like the Phoenix, only to repeat the same mistakes.

Mr. Rice tends to forget that Bill Clinton was the butt of many-a-jokes during his tenure as president—on Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, and late night comedian shows.

The 1/2 Hour Show & The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

The 1/2 Hour show opened with a skit by rightwing talk show host Rush Limbaugh playing President of the Untied States, and his rightwing cohort Ann Coulter playing Vice President. The sketch was painful.

Comedy is for professionals, kids.

Rush and Ann looked uncomfortable as they recited their lines with awkward pauses and timing.

The rest of the show was taped before a live audience broken up by two fake commercials about the ACLU (American Civil Liberty Union). The audience appeared most of the time to laugh out of politeness—like laughing politely at the old drunk uncle's inappropriate jokes at the family gathering.

While Jon Stewart is able to connect with his audience through self-deprication and wit, The 1/2 Hour Show's two anchors read fake news—er, talking points. The fake anchors delivered their jokes as if reading a teleprompter.

Comedy works when the writers and the performers are sincere in what they are doing. The 1/2 Hour News Show writers and performers were insincere, like their writers and performers in the news division. They take themselves way too seriously. The show lampooned Ed Begley, Jr., and the neocons favs--Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Global Warming.

Satire works when there is irony; The 1/2 Hour Show’s sketches just came off as nasty—kind of like Fox News’ everyday programming. The Daily Show works because the writers use actual events—clips from the news and contrasting it with, um—facts.

Presto!

Satire.

Irony.

The irony in all of this is that Fox News already has hit satire and fake news shows such as “The O’Reilly Factor,” “Hannity & Colmes,” “Your World w/ Neil Cavuto”, “Fox and Friends”,”Special Report w/ Brit Hume,” and “Fox News Sunday” with the exception of the laughing part, they have the fake news and irony thing, down pat.

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