In Clay Shirky's "Here Comes Everybody," he compares the state of journalism today to the late 1400s when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, thus replacing the sacred role of the scribe with the technology of mass reproduction. Today, legacy journalism sources find themselves competing with the
rise of Internet accessible user generated content in the form of
blogs, citizen journals, etc.
Cartoon by Dave Walker. We Blog Cartoons.
On
the same night that the Democratic National Convention began on Monday,
August 25, 2008, Senator John McCain appeared on "The Tonight Show with
Jay Leno." Jay Leno made light of a certain comment McCain made about
not being sure how many houses he owned by joking, "Senator John
McCain, for one million dollars how many houses do you have?" After a
quick laugh Senator McCain turned quite serious, replying to Leno by
stating, "Could I just mention to you Jay, in a moment of seriousness,
I spent five and a half years in a prison cell...I didn't have a house,
I didn't have a kitchen table, I didn't have a table, I didn't have a
chair..."
This episode of Leno, which has been written about, blogged about, and broadcasted over various websites, is a good example of a hybrid between legacy news and amateur news. "The Tonight Show" itself remains both in the genre of a reputable legacy program as well as an entertainment talk show directed toward the general public. While "The Tonight Show" airs on NBC and Leno is able to host people such as Senator John McCain, he is also a comedian who brings on guests such as celebrities Paris Hilton and Mary-Kate Olsen. Although the show is far from unfiltered or unscripted, the conversational nature of the program gives Leno the ability to joke with McCain about his age as well as the number of houses he owns. However, there are moments when this becomes awkward or tricky, such as this moment when the interview goes from joking to serious in an abrupt manner.
While McCain seems to be criticized for turning the comedic interview to serious on programs such as MSNBC's "Morning Joe," The New York Times "The Caucus" blog by Michael Cooper instead focuses on the more humorous aspects of McCain's visit when he "jokes" about his age and the inability of anyone to get "a word in edgewise" with Senator Joseph R. Biden. Even though this is a blog, it seems to restrain from vocalizing a specific opinion about the potential presidential candidate. It's position as a part of legacy news media The New York Times can perhaps serve as an explanation for why the tone is much different than the comments featured on youtube.com.
It is interesting to compare how this clip is broadcasted and reviewed on a variety of websites and programs. If you take just one of the many clips of the video on youtube.com, entitled "Mc Cain POW-POW-POWs on Leno," seen here, there are almost 600 user comments on this video alone. These comments are unfiltered and either blatantly oppose and disagree with one another or seem to support each other. One example on this video is Swordsquire's comment, "Sooo...WTF??? The POW is HIS blanket answer to everything?... Lol! What a moron!" to which wayzatabball33 replies, "True that." In between the rants and name-calling, however, is an uncensored feel for how people respond to this episode on Jay Leno.
On MSNBC's coverage of the Democratic National Convention amongst a panel of hosts, anchor Rachel Maddow is vocal about her opinion that McCain seems to be using his status as a past Prisoner of War as a "crutch" and that he "risks turning it into a punch line."
This clip can be seen on Youtube.
The accessibility of both these various legacy news sources as well as unfiltered public opinion is beneficial because a variety of sides and opinions are presented, thus allowing the user to weigh the different information before making up his or her own mind. One particular answer is no longer handed to the "audience" member, thus making his or her role in society a more dynamic and active one.
This episode of Leno, which has been written about, blogged about, and broadcasted over various websites, is a good example of a hybrid between legacy news and amateur news. "The Tonight Show" itself remains both in the genre of a reputable legacy program as well as an entertainment talk show directed toward the general public. While "The Tonight Show" airs on NBC and Leno is able to host people such as Senator John McCain, he is also a comedian who brings on guests such as celebrities Paris Hilton and Mary-Kate Olsen. Although the show is far from unfiltered or unscripted, the conversational nature of the program gives Leno the ability to joke with McCain about his age as well as the number of houses he owns. However, there are moments when this becomes awkward or tricky, such as this moment when the interview goes from joking to serious in an abrupt manner.
While McCain seems to be criticized for turning the comedic interview to serious on programs such as MSNBC's "Morning Joe," The New York Times "The Caucus" blog by Michael Cooper instead focuses on the more humorous aspects of McCain's visit when he "jokes" about his age and the inability of anyone to get "a word in edgewise" with Senator Joseph R. Biden. Even though this is a blog, it seems to restrain from vocalizing a specific opinion about the potential presidential candidate. It's position as a part of legacy news media The New York Times can perhaps serve as an explanation for why the tone is much different than the comments featured on youtube.com.
It is interesting to compare how this clip is broadcasted and reviewed on a variety of websites and programs. If you take just one of the many clips of the video on youtube.com, entitled "Mc Cain POW-POW-POWs on Leno," seen here, there are almost 600 user comments on this video alone. These comments are unfiltered and either blatantly oppose and disagree with one another or seem to support each other. One example on this video is Swordsquire's comment, "Sooo...WTF??? The POW is HIS blanket answer to everything?... Lol! What a moron!" to which wayzatabball33 replies, "True that." In between the rants and name-calling, however, is an uncensored feel for how people respond to this episode on Jay Leno.
On MSNBC's coverage of the Democratic National Convention amongst a panel of hosts, anchor Rachel Maddow is vocal about her opinion that McCain seems to be using his status as a past Prisoner of War as a "crutch" and that he "risks turning it into a punch line."
This clip can be seen on Youtube.
The accessibility of both these various legacy news sources as well as unfiltered public opinion is beneficial because a variety of sides and opinions are presented, thus allowing the user to weigh the different information before making up his or her own mind. One particular answer is no longer handed to the "audience" member, thus making his or her role in society a more dynamic and active one.
By Trishna Patel
August 31, 2008 1:04 AM
HAHAHA! I watch that clip every time and laugh. Way to kill the moment JMAC, way to kill it! No direspect to his POW days, but it will be interesting to see if he just as much flack on his POW comments as Obama does on his "change" act. Interesting take on how different outlets of media (that happen to be very different too)covered the same issue. Youtube comments vs. MSN.
Using Leno was refreshing- as most ppl used more convential forms of media in their blogs. (ex. MSN, CNN, FOX, local news etc.)
Clear analysis as well!
By Trishna Patel
August 31, 2008 1:05 AM
HAHAHA! I watch that clip every time and laugh. Way to kill the moment JMAC, way to kill it! No direspect to his POW days, but it will be interesting to see if he just as much flack on his POW comments as Obama does on his "change" act. Interesting take on how different outlets of media (that happen to be very different too)covered the same issue. Youtube comments vs. MSN.
Using Leno was refreshing- as most ppl used more convential forms of media in their blogs. (ex. MSN, CNN, FOX, local news etc.)
Clear analysis as well!