Satire as a Tool for Fighting Political Impunity

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Table of Contents

Summary
Introduction
The Challenges Satirists Face
Overcoming the Challenges
Conclusion
Reference List

Summary

Communication and media are facing the need to say or do something different in a new way. This simplifies the efforts by communication channels to be unique in their presentations so that they can attract large audiences.

New ideas, new topics of research and advanced students have made this area not only innovative but also controversial (Hartley 2011). This research sets the pace for other academic and extensive research on this topic.

Danesi defines media as any productions, for instance, TV programs, radio shows, newspaper columns or advertisements (2009, p. 194). Producers use contemporary media texts to convey meaning to the audience. It is not certain, however, that the audience will receive this message as intended because the text could be misinterpreted or misunderstood.

Contemporary media channels (for example TV) use communicative codes that need decoding (Hartley 2011, p. 3). TV communicators know that their message could not be decoded the same way by all their audiences.

Therefore, research is vital to establish how the message sent can reach the target audience, and what to do to ensure proper decoding takes place. According to Hartley, textual (semiotics) and audience (sociological) analysis should be done to know how to use the media to reach a mass audience.

Introduction

Satire is dramatic, literary, or visual art created to review folly or abuse. Even though it uses humor and wit, satire intends to shade light on the wrong deeds present in both the social and political circles. Parody, on the hand, is a stylist imitation serving to call attention to and ridicule original style (Boler & Turpin 2008, p. 401).

Irony is among the styles used in satire. In this case, a person says one thing but means a different thing. It brings out the shared cultural meanings in satire in order to create the jokes. There are stages where irony could be used, for instance, when issuing statements about news media, parody characters and performances at events.

In this study, I will focus on satire as a tool for fighting political impunity, and the challenges that the satirists face.

The Challenges Satirists Face

Many countries experience political issues in one way or the other. These issues range from bribery and corruption, nepotism, ethnic divisions, misappropriation of public funds, racial discrimination, etc. When a producer creates a comedy show, their intention is always to entertain as well as educate the audiences.

Satirists have also used music to pass across their messages by composing songs that rebuke corruption in the government. Negus states that we corporate machines should not attempt to control creativity in the popular music just to satisfy their greed (McIntyre 2011). Both musicians and satirists should be left to express themselves through their talents. According to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, comedy shows are not news since they do not have partisan agendas, they just entertain their audiences.

The Daily Show is a late night comedy show in the United States and Canada. According to Boler and Turpin (p. 391), since real news shows do not confirm political claims against reality, fake news shows have taken over the role of revealing that many politicians tell lies.

McClennen (2011, p. 13) describes Colbert’s parody as Bill O’Reilley at White house dinner, where he gave a satirical speech as the most aggressive public confrontation of President Bush during his tenure in office. In his speech, Colbert revealed all the scandals in the government thereby exposing what the main stream media had failed to expose. This act made Colbert a legend.

Can a comedy show like The Daily Show be held accountable to journalistic standards and integrity? This is the question that lingers in people’s minds. According to Joe Stewart, comedy shows cannot be held accountable to journalistic standards since they engage in theater instead of engaging in critical journalism. He insists that news organizations should not look to comedy for “cues on integrity” (Boler & Turpin 2008, p. 395).

There has been a general public dissatisfaction with the main stream media personnel who concealing political vices in governments. The audience has thus lost trust in the main stream media and has now resorted to support satirists who expose the real issues in governments. Popular comedy hosts have been outstanding and recommended for their courage to say the truth and confront political issues without fear or favour.

An exchange between Stewart and Moyer in 2003 focused on journalism and satire in a contradictory way. Moyers questioned whether, Stewart practiced an old form of satire or the form of journalism. In his response, Stewart states that this issue could be determined by whether Moyers was speaking about news or comedy adding that we are living in the new form of desperation.

With the advents in media, people have been able to display their talents through social sites like YouTube. Satirists all over the world are creating satirical shows using the available digital equipment and posting them on YouTube for people to see.

Because of this, artists now have lucrative deals by leading companies who nurtured their talents and made them stars. Political satirists, like Chris Rock have also posted their work on social sites to increase public awareness on political issues.

Through the mass media like TV, Radio and the Internet, many people have come to know about scandals that they never knew. Many people have also learnt about their political systems through satirical shows. Peterson says that most Americans get to know their politicians through satirical shows (2008, p. 21).

The description of these politicians is so funny that it leaves the memory in people’s heads. There is evidently more political satire in democratic countries than in authoritarian regimes according to Leonard. This is because of the freedom of expression that exists in these democracies.

In reference to my question above, it is true that political satire can help in fighting vices in political systems, but the challenges are overwhelming. According to Freeman (2009), throughout history, the political jester can speak truth to power even though there is always censorship of some sort in this industry. This has made it difficult for the satirists to run their shows without restrictions by the authorities in their countries.

Another challenge that satirists face is the problem in finding and holding an audience since many people dislike like politics. More often, therefore, these shows tend to incorporate other jokes about cultures, personalities or ethnic groups’ social issues into their shows so that they can attract people’s attentions.

The negative attitude that people have towards satirists also hinders their work of fighting political vices through comedy. According to the Lake Victorian caricaturist and essayist Mac Beerbohm, a satirist is a person laying about lustily to hurt or injure those who according to him should be hurt and injured (Freedman 2009, p. 1).

Since no one likes to be ridiculed, political satire has often been labeled as a dangerous and uncomfortable field since the people one makes fun of may decide to sue them or pose a threat to their lives. Many US satirists believe that president Bush deserved to be hurt and injured.

They, therefore, went ahead to scorn and ridicule him on their comedy shows. Zerubavel gives an example of a satirist, who mocks an emperor by telling him that he is either blind, or the emperor is naked” (2006 p. 73). According to Freedman (p. 14), other targets for satire are Bill Clinton (the sex scandal) and George Bush (his leaders).

Different people react to satire different. While some will choose to laugh at the jokes and even appear at the shows, others get angered and cut off offending passages on the newspapers or ban the TV show and imprison or penalize the satirists. In the 1920s, for example, the Soviet Union, imprisoned Philipon and his colleagues and their magazines banned for satirically criticizing the government.

There is another challenge of maintaining the momentum in comedy shows. Satirists have to look for fresh jokes keep their audience entertained. This seems to be the biggest challenge for satirists since the audience is the most powerful person in their work. They thus need to carry out thorough research for them to reach a desired audience and get their attention.

Overcoming the Challenges

Some of the Key Concepts that should be considered in order to overcome these challenges are as follows:

Censorship. Hartley (p. 38) defines censorship as the control of published content by official agencies in order to discipline the populations and render any dangerous thoughts and desires docile. It is thus essential for satirists to analyse their government systems and program their show in a way that they will speak up against the vices, but in a soft way to avoid censorship.
Communication. This is a meaning generating interaction between two systems or organisms by means of mutually recognizing signals (Hartley, p. 49). Satirists design and present their jokes with the intention of passing information. This information could concern corruption in the government, the high cost of living or nepotism in the civil service. Text is anything that represents, expresses or communicates speeches, poems or programs. The text in satirical programs stands for the message that the producer wants to pass to the audience.
Celebrity. The person that speaks at a show will affect the way a message is received. The public reaction to a joke or mockery will significantly depend on whom that person is. Celebrities in this case always have an upper hand to charm the audiences than regular people. The reason behind this is that already they have a fan base hence they just need to tickle them a little for them to burst into laughter. Many people will attend a satirical show hosted by Chris Rock than one hosted by an unknown person.
Audience. Watson & Hill (p. 16) state that an audience is the receptors of messages sent. For a show to be successful, the producer should consider creating a content that will fit the audiences. Gender, academic level, religious background and language, will determine the approach to take in their presentation.
Context. Hartley (p. 61) defines context as the environment where we make a presentation. Political satire is not advisable in a country that is experiencing violence due to political difference since this will fuel violence. In 2008 Republican John McCain and his wife were victims of political satire during a talk show called The View, hosted by five female presenters. The hosts saw that environment as the perfect opportunity for them to mock the presidential aspirant for approving of a message on advertisements that were propaganda campaigns against his opponent, Barrack Obama (Jones 2010, p. 3). This action signifies how democracy may turn around and hurt the same people who defend it through satire. This is evidently the reason behind strict restrictions by authoritarian governments on satirical programs.
Media. It is any means of transmitting information according to Danesi (2009). For comedy shows to reach their target audiences, the producers should choose their media correct. Comic shows have adopted with the changes in media trend well. According to Kellner, mainstream media processes information, events and news as media spectacle (2009). It is this power of the media that has taken these shows to Facebook, twitter, YouTube and MySpace.

These innovations have led to the work of writers like Hemingway (The Sun Also Rises) to be translated into films (Hay 2011, p. 24). Women have also decided to join the field of political satire as writers, cartoonists or performers. Maureen Dowd and Molly Ivins are among the noticeable number of women who have made their names as satirists (Freedman 2009, p. 2).

Conclusion

It is vital for both private and government institutions to support satirists carry out their self-imposed role of being watchdogs. This avenue could also grow to create employment opportunities to the youths.

Reference List

Boler, M & Turpin, S 2008, “The daily show and crossfire: Satire and Sincerity as Truth to Power”, in Megan, Boler, Digital Media and Democracy: Tactics in Hard Times, MIT Press, USA.

Danesi, M & Berger, A 2009, Dictionary of Media and Communication. M.E Sharpe Inc, New York, USA.

Freedman, L 2009, The Offensive Art: Political Satire and Its Censorship around the World from Beerbohm to Borat, Greenwood publishing group, London UK.

Hartley, J 2011, Communication, Cultural and Media Studies: The Key Concepts, 4^th Ed. Routledge, London, UK.

Hays, P 2011, The critical reception of Hemingway’s The Sun also rises. Camden House, New York, USA.

Jones, J 2010, Entertaining Politics: Satirical Television and political engagement, 2^nd ed. Rowland & Littlefield Publishers Inc, Maryland, USA.

Kellner, D 2009, “Media Spectacles and Media Events: Some Critical Reflections”, in N. Couldry et al, Media Events in Global Age, Routledge, London, UK.

McClennen, S 2011, America According to Colbert: Satire as Public Pedagogy, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, USA.

McIntyre, P 2011, “Popular Music: Creativity and Authenticity” in Creativity and Cultural Production: Issues for Media Practice, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

Peterson, R 2008, Strange Bedfellows: How Late-Night Comedy Turns Democracy into a Joke, NJ, USA.

Watson J & Hill A. 2012, Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies, 8^th ed. Bloomsbury Academic, London UK.

Zerubavel E. 2006, Elephant in the Room: Silence and Denial in Everyday Life, Oxford University Press NC, USA

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