Journalism After Dark? Late Nite Jokes and the Joking Jokers Who Tell Them.

Jimmy Kimmel

Many consumers now get most of their “news” from the late nite shows. With that in mind, there are a few important differences between newscasts and those shows that viewers should be aware of.

The hosts are not journalists.

Jimmy Kimmel worked in radio for several years at the beginning of his career. According to Wikipedia, he was on KROQ in Los Angeles for five years as Jimmy The Sports Guy. Carson Daly also had some radio experience early in his career. 

None of the other current late nite hosts appear to have any experience or degrees in journalism. Most of them (Trevor Noah, John Oliver, Samantha  Bee, etc.) worked their way up to their current spots doing standup comedy, improv, or some other form of entertainment.

Blogging vs. Journalism: Can you say Blurnalism?

Bloggers and journalists, living together. Mass hysteria!

One of the late George Carlin’s classic comedy bits was about the differences between football and baseball. “Baseball is played on a diamond in a park. The baseball park! Football is played on a gridiron, in a stadium.”

These days some bloggers are doing journalism and many journalists are writing blogs. Although the lines are sometimes blurred - which has produced something I call blurnalism - there are some interesting differences most of the time. So, what would it be like to compare blogging to journalism in a similar way to Carlin’s treatment of baseball and football?

When you write a blog, you’re your own boss. You can write about anything. When you’re a journalist, you’re work is supervised by an editor or a producer who gives you assignments. In some cases, journalists suggest topics, but those have to be approved.

Not all fake news is created equally.

“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Mark Twain

There are several varieties of fake news. Here are two of the most common forms.

Michael Mullen and Jon Stewart

Satire

The most obvious type of fake news is satirical fake news. This includes everything from material in The Onion, to Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live, to The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. The emphasis is on humor and getting laughs. Sometimes people are not aware that they’re reading or watching satire. Some people take satire completely seriously. Also, there are people who don’t understand what satire is or how it works through irony, exaggeration, and by other methods.