I recently watched a John Oliver segment from when he flew to Russia to interview Edward Snowden. Oliver, realizing that the case around Snowden is incredibly important, but also finding that many Americans don't have a clue who he is or what he did, he decided to find a way to relay the news in a way people could understand – through comedy. Instead of laying out the "boring" facts of the matter, he spoke of the NSA operations with Snowden in regard to "dick pics," something Americans can laugh at and actually pay attention to. In this way, he brought attention to an important matter that many otherwise wouldn't bother knowing. Examine how Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, and the like brilliantly dumb-down the news so people will actually know what's going on in the world.
It would also be interesting to look at the recent polls that show that a majority of young adults (18-24 yrs is the range I believe) report that they get all or most of their news from political comedy shows. – Katie Brown10 years ago