The political satirist has been a part of the American landscape since before we were a country. The first known political cartoon before the revolutionary war was done by Ben Franklin. It was a snake cut into 13 pieces with the caption "Join or die". Not a real rib tickler by today's standards, but then, you don't often see a political cartoon that has you busting a gut. But the satirists are there.
I guess the big difference between the clowns that report the straight news and Comedy Central's team is that Comedy Central knows that they are doing satire.
I remember back when we still had the fairness doctrine, one hour a week could guarantee us a lot of political satire. During Johnson's last two years in office, he was roasted like a pig on a spit. Nixon was next in line and got his share of roasting, as well. CBS pulled their highly rated show because it too often hit the nail on the head with a 10 pound sledge hammer. The network later lost the breach of contract suit brought on by the Smothers.
Comedy Central's Daily Show follows in that path. They skewer News organizations as well as the news makers, but never claimed to be the news. Still, a lot of their segments did spark interest in current events.
It's a sad commentary that self described satirical news is a threat to teal news organizations on both the left and right.
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