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Credibility in Comedy Is No Joke

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Credibility in Comedy Is No Joke Credibility in Comedy is No Joke A multimodal study of the credibility of, and communication campaign manifested in, the political satire program Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. By: Emma Andersson Supervisor: Walid Al-Saqaf Södertörns högskola | Institute of Social Science Master thesis 15 hp Journalism | Spring term 2018 International Master’s programme in Journalism Abstract Research into political satire programs show that they can be informative in the same way traditional news inform citizens and that the audience trust the information told by satirists. The political satire program Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has inspired the phenomenon ‘the John Oliver Effect’ due to comedian John Oliver’s ability to influence the world of politics and beyond with his in-depth investigations in serious subjects. In the author’s previous research Last Week Tonight has been portrayed by the media as being a credible source despite being the work of a comedian. This study therefore aimed to research what it is that makes Oliver and Last Week Tonight a credible source and whether some aspects of the reporting can be seen as communication campaign. With the theory of source credibility as part of its core, this study used the method of multimodality to ascertain that the main aspect that spoke to Oliver’s credibility was his perceived trustworthiness rather that his expertise or attractiveness. Using the same method but with the theory of communication campaign as part of its core, the study also ascertained that the program in general possessed some characteristics of a communication campaign but to be completely successful an episode had to possess all characteristics of a communication campaign. Merging this with previous research would indicate that subjectivity – Oliver’s authenticity and honest opinions and feelings – play an important part in his perceived credibility. Keywords Communication campaign theory, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, multimodality analysis, source credibility theory, subjective news Table of Content Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………… 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 2. Research Questions .............................................................................................................. 2 3. Background ........................................................................................................................... 2 3.1 Last Week Tonight With John Oliver ............................................................................... 3 3.1.1 Summary of and media’s reaction to ‘Net Neutrality’ ............................................... 4 3.1.2 Summary of and media’s reaction to ‘Charter Schools’ ............................................ 6 3.1.3 Summary of and media’s reaction to ‘Chickens’ ....................................................... 7 3.1.4 Summary of and media’s reaction to ‘Journalism’ .................................................... 8 4. Previous Research ................................................................................................................ 9 4.1 Characterisation of political satire programs .................................................................. 10 4.2 Objective news vs. subjective news ............................................................................... 10 4.3 Trust in political satire programs .................................................................................... 11 5. Theoretical Framework ..................................................................................................... 15 5.1 Theory of source credibility ........................................................................................... 15 5.2 Theory of communication campaign .............................................................................. 18 6. Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 20 6.1 Selection of material ....................................................................................................... 20 6.2 Multimodality ................................................................................................................. 20 6.2.1 Methodological concerns ......................................................................................... 23 6.2.2 Reliability and validity ............................................................................................. 23 7. Results and Analysis........................................................................................................... 24 7.1 How is the program constructed? ................................................................................... 24 7.2 Trustworthiness .............................................................................................................. 26 7.3 Expertise ......................................................................................................................... 29 7.4 Attractiveness.................................................................................................................. 30 7.5 Similarities to a communication campaign? ................................................................... 31 8. Discussion and Conclusion ................................................................................................ 34 9. Further Research ................................................................................................................ 39 10. References ......................................................................................................................... 40 11. Empirical Material ........................................................................................................... 49 12. Appendix ........................................................................................................................... 50 12.1 Code scheme for ‘Net Neutrality .................................................................................. 50 12.2 Code Scheme for ‘Charter Schools’ ............................................................................. 54 12.3 Code Scheme for ‘Chickens’ ........................................................................................ 60 12.4 Code Scheme for ‘Journalism’ ..................................................................................... 65 1. Introduction In 2009, Time (Poniewozik, 2015) held an online poll that asked its audience who they considered the most trusted newscaster in America after the death of veteran newscaster Walter Cronkite. Who was then voted the most trusted – a well-known investigative reporter or political pundit with many accolades under their belt? Not quite. Veteran faux newscaster and comedian Jon Stewart of the Daily Show was voted the most trusted newscaster in America. Nine years later, and the question of trust – and credibility – in the media is more important than ever, especially when the media in question isn’t traditional news programs but rather satirical news programs. As one of Stewart’s many protégés, British comedian John Oliver branched out from the typical satirical program structure and created something new with his satire program Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Carter, 2014). The Daily Show has been a starting point for many comedians who set out to host their own programs; not only the most well-known the Colbert Report, but also the Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, the Opposition and, as mentioned, Last Week Tonight (Gonzalez, 2016; Tani, 2017).Yet in comparison to the other branches from its predecessor, Last Week Tonight has gained a reputation as an atypical influence on the world of politics and beyond. A call to arms to internet trolls to protect their playing field and consequently aiding in crashing the Federal Communications Commission’s website, being sued for defamation by a coal tycoon while featuring a man dressed as a squirrel proclaiming ‘Eat shit, Bob’, being credited as inspiration for a state senator to propose a new bill that would allow citizens to comment on new legislation submitting videos online and collecting thousands of dollars to LGBTQIA-organisations by producing a top-selling children’s book about the vice- president’s rabbit Marlon Bundo meeting his soulmate in another boy rabbit (Geurrasio, 2017; Hawkins, 2017; Brownstone, 2015; Desta, 2018). As absurd as it is unconventional, these kinds of persuasive antics that has generated varied results has been labelled ‘the John Oliver Effect’ (Luckerson, 2015). Oliver and his show is having an impact on the world around him, but is the trust put in the comedian based on more than popularity? Can the program even be called a funny kind of communication campaign? With previous research into the subject of satire (Andersson, 2016), to analyse the relationship between the genres of news and satire, this study aims to be a continued 1 development of that previous research. The aim of the previous research was to study whether American news outlets portrayed Last Week Tonight as a credible source or as humour without substance and whether public actors were portrayed as being affected by the program’s reports. The result showed the relationship between satire and news to be blurring; the program was portrayed as a mix of a credible source and satire and that the two
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