The Globalization of a Comedy Show Spreading the News. A comparing analysis of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Daily Show: Nederlandse Editie and Zondag met Lubach. Thesis Anne Eckmann 6082378 Master Television and Cross-Media Culture University of Amsterdam Supervisor: J.W. Kooijman Wordcount: 18.561 26 June 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT After an intense period of writing, I can finally hand in this thesis. Not only have I learned a lot in the academic field of television, but also on a personal level. It has not always been easy, but with the help from some people I would like to mention here, I made it through. First, I would like to thank my supervisor, dr. Jaap Kooijman, for his strict but fair supervision during the period of writing this thesis, I know it has not always been easy trying to get me on the right track. I also would like to acknowledge drs. Maarten Reesink as the second reader of this thesis and thank him for getting me through the last few weeks of writing with his enthusiasm. Finally, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my parents Tiny and Bas, who have never failed to support and encourage me throughout all my years of study, but especially during the time of writing this thesis. I truly am forever grateful for your support. I also am very thankful to Elmer, Marieke, Joyce and Nicole for their love, support and never stopping to believe in my abilities as an academic student. 2 Table of Contents Introduction 4 Chapter 1 The Globalization and Americanization of Television 6 Chapter 2 The Daily Show – A global comedy format with traditional news conventions 14 Chapter 3 Zondag met Lubach – A very Dutch comedy show 32 Conclusion 45 Literature 48 Appendix 1 -3 53 3 Introduction This research is about the globalization of television. There are many television formats that are created in such a way for them to be possible to be broadcasted around the world. However, not every format will work if it is a copy. Sometimes it is necessary for a format to adapt to the local condition. This way the context changes and it is possible to get closer to the audience and in this way to attract more viewers. The Daily Show is such a format: it has proven to be successful in the United States and this creates an attractiveness. Producers in other locations get interested in the format and would like to see if the show would attract viewers in their countries. This is what happened to The Daily Show in The Netherlands. In 2011, comedian Jan Jaap van der Wal wanted to create The Daily Show: Nederlandse Editie. But despite the show being successful in The United States, in The Netherlands no more than 12 episodes were made. This seems a bit contradictory and that is why I want to research how the shows differ from each other and how they are the same. There also is a similar format on Dutch television at the moment: Zondag met Lubach. This is not a copy of The Daily Show but has similar elements. It is broadcasted on a different channel and created by a different team. This show did not stop at 12 episodes: they will start airing the seventh season in September 2017. To see what the differences and similarities are I will research the following elements in the next chapter, as well as perform a case study of one episode of each show. To be able to make a good comparison all three episodes will have a political context. The main perspectives I will research is: 1) how is there a contradiction between transferring ‘serious’ news, while using traditional news conventions, but at the same time entertainment and 2) how is The Daily Show an example of globalization and can the Dutch programs be explained as a form of grobalization and glocalization. This research falls within the field of globalization, which is why I will look into literature about this subject before doing a case studies of the shows. In the first chapter the concepts globalization and Americanization will be introduced; these concepts are necessary to understand since they will be used in the analyzes of the shows. This chapter is based on literature research. The second chapter are the first two case studies; I will analyze The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Daily Show: Nederlandse Editie. After using literature to research the previously mentioned perspectives, I will research what happens in the episodes step by step with the help of a systematic analysis scheme. The episodes 4 will be divided into several sequences and in each sequence, I will describe the mise-en- scene, content, sound, editing, discourses and camerawork to show how these elements create the contradiction of a comedy show that is bringing serious news issues to the audience while using traditional news program conventions. The same will happen for the episode of Zondag met Lubach in the third chapter. With the analyzes, a clear picture will emerge of what the differences and similarities between the shows are and how they are examples of globalization. 5 Chapter 1 The Globalization and Americanization of Television In this chapter, the concepts globalization (and within this grobalization and glocalization), Americanization, and McDonaldization will be used as a basis for the case studies that I will discuss in this thesis. To understand the differences and similarities between the shows, all concepts mentioned above need to be applied to the American version of The Daily Show, as well as to the Dutch version and Zondag met Lubach. A part of globalization is glocalization, where global issues are adapted locally, as is the case with the Dutch version of The Daily Show. For this reason, it will be interesting to see in what way the show has stayed the same and in what way it changed, and in any case, why it has stayed the same and why it changed. Zondag met Lubach is a similar show, but has a different name and it broadcasted on a different channel. A show can be completely different from its original form, like Zondag met Lubach, or can be copied literally, like The Daily Show: Nederlandse Editie. In this research, the Dutch shows are compared to an American version of the format, which makes the concept of Americanization and McDonaldization relevant to research as well. This first chapter will make clear what is important to look at when analyzing a television show. Globalization: Grobalization and Glocalization Globalization is a term that is very broad and can be used in many contexts. As Gorman and McLean explain: “It refers to changes in international relationships, particularly in economics and international trade, but also social and cultural changes, for which media and international communications are especially important” (264). The reason why media and international communications are important is because it is the way through which people encounter more parts of the world. At the root of globalization is the end of the Cold War. Not only are people more connected through media, but also because people are tied through their nation’s membership of the United Nations. Globalization can be seen as a good thing because it is bringing different aspects together, but there is also a downside. As William Nester explains: “(…) any major international event can affect us, in varying ways, and likewise, every major national issue is, in varying ways, an international issue” (1- 6 2). Therefore, it is important that there is a certain form of organization; many people are involved and affected. Thomas Friedman claims that globalization is an international system with its own rules and logic. The world is an increasing interwoven place and this is an ongoing and dynamic process. Globalization is the integration of markets “in a way that is enabling individuals, corporations and nation-states to reach around the world farther, faster, deeper and cheaper than ever before” (8). With this, Friedman says globalization is concept that puts processes into motion and keeps evolving with the steps it makes. Because everything is going farther, faster and deeper these steps will move forward every day. Examples of globalization concepts are internationalization, liberalization, universalization and westernization (Scholte 54-58). These are different perspectives through which the bigger concept can be looked upon and it all together forms the definition of globalization. As Roland Robertson puts it: “Globalization as a concept refers to both the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole” (8). At the same time, one is more than ever aware of the differences within the world, but also of the world itself. Where Friedman is talking about individuals, corporations and nation-states, Arjun Appadurai sees it through the concepts of consumers and producers by saying that “globalization has shrunk the distance between elites, shifted key relations between consumers and producers (…), obscured the lines between temporary locales and imaginary national attachments” (9-10). So, he is also talking about reducing distances, but in a different way: he does not say individuals but consumers and producers. According to Roland Robertson, glocalization also is an important concept, because with just using the term globalization, locality is being neglected. Glocalization is not the most discussed form of globalization: ‘time-space’ has been researched, but mostly in an abstract form. The term glocalization originates from Japan, where it was used within agriculture to explain not every technique works in every place. Glocalization is "a global outlook adapted to local conditions" (Featherstone, Lash & Robertson 26-28).