The Influence Of Comedy In The Media

In order to understand the world around them people often look to others to interpret it for them. In our culture today, comedians serve as analysts of societal trends and current events. As Paul Sturges of Loughbourough University states comedy, “begins with personal reflections on the oddities and anomalies of life in which any individual indulges, but it takes on a broader, and even universal, significance when a writer, performer or visual artist structures that reflection into a comic form.”(2) In modern media, comedy, in its many forms, utilizes this model to interpret current events and transform them from factual recounts into laughable premises. This allows comedians to connect with audiences and elicit a reaction. The ability to use relatable circumstances and observations about society as it surrounds us plays an important part in how the average person understands the world. In popular culture, comedy and satire play a key role in engaging mass populations in current affairs and helping to shape society’s opinions of current events. In this respect society should encourage the comedy community to continue to address taboo

They do so in a conscious effort to encourage the audience to question the political landscape and to persuade journalists to hold themselves to “higher standards than chasing ratings” ( Poniewozik, 92) These types of programs serve as media watchdogs, holding the media accountable for its actions. In this respect comedy can be seen as a way that audiences gain a different perspective on the world around them, but also a way for the news media to be held accountable for the biases they present and the tactics they employ to reach more viewers. This provokes people to demand a higher quality of content from the media and provides them with some of the tools to properly assess what they consume (Friend,