Is the Fake News the Real News?

According to the authors of Media and Society, culture jamming is “a mode of resistance to the norms and conventions of mass culture that exposes and opposes the media’s underlying power structures and ideological messages” (O’Shaughnessy, 213) In other words, culture jamming is the utility of spoofs and other methods to denature the media and allow the public to question a hidden message. In my opinion, satirical news reports such as The Daily Show and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon are in no doubt a mainstream form of culture jamming.

I believe that satirical news reports are an excellent method of making the public aware of world news. After searching Youtube to watch a fragment of The Daily Show, it became obvious that these shows are using culture-jamming techniques to engage a different audience than the regular news outlets. “The objectives of culture jamming often include consciousness raising (raising awareness of social and political issues) as well as using the media to criticize the media and dominant culture.”  (O’Shaughnessy, 214) The Rob Ford scandal that is currently occurring is a prime example of this kind of culture jamming. Satirical news reporters have jumped all over this topic, mocking the mayor and using humor to get the news across. The information that they feed to the public sphere may or may not be completely accurate, but it definitely informs the public of what is going on in the world and can therefore be considered useful. To be honest, I did not hear about Rob Ford’s mishaps from a traditional news report, I learned about the situation through satirical news reports making clever jokes about the mayor.

I consider satirical news reports a mainstream form of culture jamming because it is using “existing media texts (which normally reinforce the dominant ideology) to make an ideological critique” (O’Shaughnessy, 215) The public’s dominant ideology of the Rob Ford scandal is that he is completely frowned upon by all of society. The satirical news programs expose the story in humorous terms, lightening the mood and allowing their audience to form their own ideological critique. I find this form of communication very useful to the public sphere because it puts a limit on what they are being brainwashed to think, and gives them a chance to form their own opinions. Personally I would much rather watch a satirical news program over a regular world news program. I get the same information as the traditional news, but I get to experience it in a light-hearted way and get a chance to form my own opinions on the matter.