Colbert Report Effect

A student dicussion of Fox News helped me make the connection between Stephen Colbert and my new comfort in watching or listening to conservative media.

So my students in a mass communication and society class were talking about Fox News. They had read an article for class about how Fox has higher ratings because it is fair and balances and appeals to a younger audience. Younger audience, yes, but fair and balanced? I'm not so sure about that. But it did make me think about why, if ever, I watch Fox News and why, if ture, its ratings are going up.

As the students talked about Fox News, they were mostly talking about convservative, dramatic news shows like Hannity and Colmes. One of their questions was, "Does higher ratings mean that they ahve more true, and the audience goes there because they know it has more true?" Well, no. That seems rediculous to me. How can you really measure truth? And I just don't think the average person watches any news show and consciously thinks, "That's not true."

One person talked about access and how maybe cable access for conservatives has increased, which is increasing the number of viewers of conservative TV news. This made me think about the Colbert Report, and how I didn't start watching any conservative TV news or even know that they exsisted until after I got hooked on Stephen Colberts spoof version. After regularly navigating through the Report, I got a better understanding for how conservative TV news in layed out. I soon started stopping on those channels when I wanted news because they felt familiar. This is just another aspect of access. After watching the Report, I had more mental access to the other shows and to the Fox network all together. And it was mostly subconsious.

I don't have many strong opinions, so conservative media sometimes makes me feel uncomfortable. i'm not a name caller, and I like to hear both sides. In the past I would avoid extreme political discussion on either side, but again, I think watching Colbert has made me feel more comfortable because its not real. I just get used to listening and thinking without all the stress like I used to have. I listened to Rush in the care for like an hour a few weeks ago because his voice put my baby to sleep, and I was able to listen and think and have my own opinions when in the past I would have change the channel.

At the beginning of class we also talked about the CSI effect that makes juries nervous to convicted people in court these days because they expect more evidence and high-tech results from forensic science. This effect is obvious and huge, but I can't help but think that the Report effect is small and subtle but maybe making Rupert Murdock a lot of money and maybe helping a few young independents feel more comfortable learning and growing on the political scene.