By: Ashley Quick
Sarcasm. Humor. Sarcasm. Celebrities. Sarcasm. This pretty much sums up comedian Chelsea Handler's late night show on E! called Chelsea Lately. Known for her completely off-color remarks and wild past, Chelsea Handler is not for the easily offended.
I find Handler and her show absolutely hilarious and worth every second I spend watching it. Yes, I learn useless facts about celebrities. And, yes, I could be watching the late night news instead. But, there is something about her show, whether it's the INTELLIGENT humor, or simply her disregard for the feelings of the "hot mess celebrities,"that draws me in. I am a sucker for sarcasm.
It comes as no surprise to me that this somewhat small late night television show on E! all of a sudden is bringing in high ratings. With famous guest such as rapper Ludacris and actress Gabrielle Union, Chelsea Handler's rants, raves, and witty banter is addictive.
Now actively competing with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert for ratings, Chelsea Handler and her big mouth have made an impact on late night TV.
With print journalism in a downward spiral, I can't help but wonder if we could combat the demising publications by simply changing writing styles a bit. Hard news is -- well -- hard. That cannot be changed -- and people should be interested in newspapers because IT MATTERS. But, unfortunately, the Internet is running us out of business.
But, in my opinion, magazines still have hope. JANE was my favorite magazine because the staff appreciated humor in writing (Chelsea Handler style) with witty and honest pieces; it unfortunately is no longer published. But JANE is not the only magazine with that special flare for writing. Other magazines, such as Marie Claire boast the fact that their readers are "more than just a pretty face." Thus, despite the fact that the magazine partly focuses on fashion, beauty, and health issues, the magazine also keeps readers up to date with important world issues as well -- but in an interesting writing style (banter included). Marie Claire isn't going out of business anytime soon. And Entertainment Weekly is still widely read, and this comprehensive magazine publishes information on all facets of the world in a captivating writing style.
I think the print media world could take a lesson or two from the sarcasm queen herself. I mean, the woman even has two best-selling books. Basically, people want fun, humor, and entertainment -- BUT we currently live in the Information Age. People are demanding information more than ever before. As journalists we must learn to combine the two to make the important desirable to read. We need to be the Chelsea Handler of our field, except instead of updating the world on the love lives of Madonna or Lindsey Lohan-- we can report on what really matters.
So let's take a hint or two from the successful comedian. Give the people what they need to know -- but how they want it.
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I agree with you. I spend more time watching the sarcastic late night shows than I do watching any of the news stations at night. I find that they give me the news in a way that I enjoy! Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with people that enjoy the monotonous voices on CNN, FOX and MSNBC, it is just not for me. I think making the newspapers and magazines more entertaining people might want to start reading them regularly again instead of just reading the lede and nut graph to get the idea of the story.
ReplyDeleteI have to be honest Ashley, your post scares me a bit. Don't get me wrong, I love my fill of sarcasm -- I TiVo Stewart and Colbert every night -- but having the mainstream media present the news in that fashion scares me.
ReplyDeleteIf we have a bunch of journalists trained to write news with a humorous slant, we're opening the door for opinion to creep into the writing. Also, what are we to do when another 9/11, Katrina or Virginia Tech happens? Surely we don't want that reported with a sarcastic twist.
Now perhaps if newspapers incorporated humor and sarcasm into their product -- a special page for instance -- they could get readers who might then glance over the real stuff. But reshaping the coverage of news? Scary!
This doesn't mean you're wrong. It just means you scare the heck out of me :) However, your argument is clear and you make good points.
I think maybe what I said came across wrong. I certainly do not believe that hard news stories should be non-existent. They are extremely important, and I spend a lot of time reading and watching stories presented by CNN and other outlets. And no, I do not think Virginia Tech or 9/11 type stories merit a sarcastic twist.
ReplyDeleteBut, with that said, I think that it's sad that people are more interested in perezhilton.com and Chelsea Handler's show because of the entertainment value. I think that a lot of papers and magazines could benefit from re-vamping their styles for their sports pages, opinion pages, and feature pages. Even the Red and Black is struggling for entertaining stories (see the R&B from 1/29).
I just think it is a good idea for journalists in general to research alternative styles and means of presenting news, outside of the hard news stories.
But even still -- Bill O'Reilly and co. do a great job of bringing the important facts in an entertaining way.
I just think hope isn't lost for newspapers and magazines -- people want to know the news to increase intelligence as well as have something to talk about -- but they also want to be entertained. I think we can accomplish the best of both worlds.
As far as leaving opinion out of writing -- that's the journalist's job. You can be funny and objective at the same time.