After reading Prior’s article one television program stuck out in my head, The Daily Show. The Daily Show is a “perfect” blend of entertainment and news media television. Prior proposes that those that are more interested in watching news media have more political knowledge than those that are interested in watching entertainment programs. This goes further even further, as those that have more political knowledge are more likely to go out and vote.
While most people would consider Comedy Central an entertainment media source, those that might stay tuned after Reno 911!(A show that proceeds The Daily Show) will end up gaining political knowledge from The Daily Show. Those watching this entertainment network, might according to Prior, not be inclined to go out and vote had they not gained this political knowledge from the news component of The Daily Show. I think Senators Mccain and Obama see the value in the electorate of The Daily Show as they have both appeared as guests on the show since declaring their candidacy for President of the United States. Other news sources try and make their coverage of the campaign entertaining (i.e. the "drama" of Gov. Palin's pregnant daughter), however they can't match the entertainment value of The Daily Show and the type of viewership it attracts. The candidates realize this and have made an effort to "campaign" by appearing as guests on The Daily Show, as seen from the clips below.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment