Annotated Bibliography - Politicians and Late-Night Comedy.

Baym, G. 2007. ‘Crafting New Communicative Models in the Televisual Sphere: Political Interviews on The Daily Show.’ The Communication Review 10(2): 93-115.

Geoffrey Baym, writes an intriguing journal article exploring the rise in the use of Daily shows such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as a means of political communication. Being a peer reviewed journal article in a credible journal, The Communication Review, Geffory Baym also actively teaches in the Department of Media at the University of North Carolina, which offers credible insight and knowledge in to the workings of media and communication. In the lead up to the 2004 presidential elections in the US there was a massive embracement of using late-night comedy shows as a platform for political discussion. Baym uses The Daily Show as his primary example and strives to examine the way TDS uses rules from both ‘public affairs and celebrity chat’ as a form of interaction. Baym largely commits this article to the argument that while there may be no legislative drive behind it the use of interviews used through TDS offers a much-needed change to the political communication. The conclusion of the argument suggests that The Daily Show offers an example of a communication that ‘constructs argument and demands accountability’. The three other media sources that will be annotated allow support to the article and show the increase of politicians using platforms of entertainment as ways to communicate. While this journal article was published in 2007 and may hinder the accurate account of current political communication it certainly has credible argument towards the increase of political use through entertainment based television shows. 

Ross, M. 2004. ‘Younger Americans get news from a new place’. MSNBC.com. Accessed on May 25 2012. Available at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5520569/ns/politics/t/younger-americans-get-news-new-place/#.T78X7mj7I20

Reporter and News Editor for MSNBC.com, Michael E. Ross, has a standing reputation for reporting on trends in politics, culture and race in America. His long resume includes The New York Times, the San Jose Mercury News and many other news channels. While the credibility of MSNBC may have declined over the recent years Ross’s work and long line of credible experience allows this article to be reliable. The article addresses the January report from the pew regarding young Americans that get their election news from late-night comedy shows. The report found that 21% of young Americans from the ages 18-29 were accessing their election news from shows that were mentioned in the journal article text such as The Daily Show. The article seems to take a biased view towards using comedy shows as political news. Ross uses a Syracuse University Academic, Robert J Thompson, who argues that using these avenues, as a source of news is ‘a bad thing, pure and simple’. This article fits well with the text by Graham Baym and shows support to the argument that there is an increase in the use of daily shows as a platform for political communication.

Gray, M. 2007. ‘Campaigning in Late Night’. Time.com. Accessed May 25 2012. Available at http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1657421,00.html

Time.com Producer and Writer, Madison Gray has an impressive backing of experience behind her. Like Michael Ross from one of the other texts of this annotated bibliography, Gray, also has experience with large and credible news organizations such as The New York Times. As well as Internet news experience she also has had a hand at a weekly podcast and a radio consultant in Ghana. As with the other two texts, Gray highlights the growing use of comedy late night shows for political communication. This text now looks at an event in which Hilary Clinton appears –for the seventh time- on the Late Night With David Letterman show and notes how she has become a regular interviewee and has even used the Letterman show to announce her candidacy for the U.S Senate in 2000. Like the previous text by Ross, Gray addresses the Pew Center study that suggests a large majority of voters get their political information from these shows. However this text takes into account an alternative view that allows the premise that this stimulates political participation and offers a personal side to the political leaders that traditional news would perhaps not show. It is becoming an obvious trend that the proliferation of political communication through these channels is a notable change throughout the evolution of politics and communication. 

Burkeman, O. 2009. ‘Obama sells economic plan on Leno show.’ The Guardian. Accessed May 24 2012. Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/20/barack-obama-economic-recovery-plan

British Journalist, Oliver Burkeman is a writer for the world-known newspaper The Guardian. Burkeman is perhaps one of the most praised out of the journalists used in other texts receiving Foreign Press Association’s Young Journalist of the Year as well as being shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. Burkemans achievements along with his notable job create a credible source for this text.  The article explores President Obama and his appearance on another late-night comedy show, Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Obama surprisingly used his time on the show to pitch his plan for economic recovery. While the other three texts may have expressed an argument towards using these platforms to show a more personal side of politicians, Burkeman used press spokesman, Robert Gibbs, who noted that this appearance was not a humorous visit but rather a policy building towards Obama’s economic plan. This last text is a more recent event that shows the way that political leaders such as President Obama still use the platform of a comedy talk show as way to interact and address the public. While the other three text may have become a bit out dated this texts offers a still standing argument towards the increasing use of talk shows.