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08-23-2016, 08:46 AM
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Recent trends in journalism
Perhaps not a thread that fits gracefully on this board, but I found this critique by John Oliver intriguing and entertaining. Thought others here might like to see it, too, if they haven't already (it's a few weeks old).
It made me think as much about comedy--John Oliver's own genre--as about journalism.
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08-23-2016, 09:05 AM
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It's not viewable from the UK unfortunately Julie.
EDIT:
Found a UK-viewable version here.
Last edited by Matt Q; 08-23-2016 at 03:33 PM.
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08-23-2016, 03:40 PM
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Aw. Sorry. Here's a link to a text summary and response, which highlights one of the sections of Oliver's video that hit me hardest:
Quote:
[F]ormer Baltimore Sun reporter and creator of “The Wire,” David Simon, testified before the U.S Senate, “The day I run into a Huffington Post reporter at a Baltimore Zoning Board hearing is the day that I will be confident that we’ve actually reached some sort of equilibrium,” he said. “There’s no glory in that kind of journalism, but that is the bedrock of what keeps [corruption at bay]. The next 10 or 15 years in this country are going to be a Halcyon era for state and local political corruption.” (Oliver’s segment pointed out that recent years had seen a 35 percent decline in statehouse coverage.)
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08-23-2016, 03:46 PM
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Hi Julie, I'd just edited in a link to video that's UK-viewable into my post above. It's slightly cropped/off-centre to hide to it from the copyright detection software, I imagine, but perfectly watchable. By watching it, of course, I'm viewing content without paying for it, and so being part of the problem he talks about. Ho hum.
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08-23-2016, 04:08 PM
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Try as I might, I'm afraid I can't stomach 19 minutes of John Oliver, regardless of what he's saying. He's described as ''hilarious'', but I think ''tedious'' is more apt.
Sorry, Julie.
Jayne
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08-23-2016, 04:29 PM
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I agree Jayne. I find him hard work too. I'd always assumed he was targeted at (a certain kind of) American audience. I'm always get the impression, watching him, that he or his writers are afraid that his audience won't actually be interested in the underlying story, and so they have to be kept happy and distracted with an unrelenting flow of gags.
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08-23-2016, 10:41 PM
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Sorry you didn't enjoy it, and I appreciate the effort that Matt put into trying to.
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08-24-2016, 08:57 PM
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Matt makes a good point about Oliver’s sometimes distressing need to insert a joke regularly, no matter how dire the subject matter. There’s always a peculiar tension between the serious & comic aspects of his presentation, as if he hasn’t figured out yet how to harmonize or meld them. But his show has had some impact here, not so much for the comedy as for the delving into significant issues. I like him, perhaps in good part because he’s British. Of course, that aspect of his appeal is lost on you Brits.
& Julie, I am curious about how the episode made you think as much about comedy as about journalism. In our evolving or mutating world, these are forces in play, with unpredictable outcomes. It is interesting.
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09-03-2016, 06:46 AM
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I think he's hilarious.
Nemo
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09-03-2016, 07:52 AM
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Maybe it's a cultural thing Nemo. Admittedly we've a very small sample size, but so far it's the Brits finding him a bit too much. How did you get on with Stewart Lee? Your line of exclamation marks didn't give much away.
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