Editorial: Laughing at the news

Every week, our Facebook newsfeeds are full of videos. Some about cats getting frightened by cucumbers, the next emotional commercial, a celebrity doing something funny or a late night talk show talking about a political or societal issue.

These last videos have a tendency to go viral and inform you on an issue while at the same time editorializing the content in a humorous way. John Oliver, Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee and others make the news comedic or even relatable — yet they don’t claim to be journalists.

Considering late night talk show hosts to be journalists is far from their role as comedians, which is what they consider themselves to be.

Although they do explore themes relating to the news and criticize media coverage, they have explicit biases — so the information audiences are consuming might not be the most well-rounded.

Nevertheless, consuming information in a comedic form is better than not being informed at all. The appeal of late night talk shows is understandable.

Their segments include breakdowns of the issues so viewers can understand them and laugh at the punchline. They make hard topics relatable and easier to understand, and just for that, they become a good entry point to becoming politically engaged.

Their ability to explain complicated issues is more important than we realize.

Making big issues less complex by explaining them in an understandable and concise way can help with initial understanding. It’s then up to the audiences to learn more about the topic and research its complexities, but late night talk shows can serve as an entryway into the news.

Although the best way to become politically informed is by consume news from a variety of outlets, for students who are trying to initially become politically informed, it can be hard and time consuming.

People should still use political satire as a supplement to their normal news consumption, but for younger audiences traditional news might be hard to initially get into.

Trying to read an article on the current situation in Syria without all the background knowledge that helps you understand how the crisis and migration started can be confusing. That’s why some news outlets, like Vox and The New York Times, have been making videos or information “round ups” of complicated news matters so people can catch up without having to read years of news content. These make the news and entering the political engagement a more accessible feat.

The late night comedy scene is growing as more and more people seem to like it, yet it has its shortcomings as a source of information. It’s dominated by moderate and liberal voices, yet there’s no conservative voice in this sphere. In that regard, it’s important to look at issues from all angles and sometimes, these outlets don’t do that. For some politically satirical skits, like ones featured on “Saturday Night Live,” you need to be informed to get the joke and don’t really provide those breakdowns.

There’s a lot traditional news media can learn from this growing trend. Making the news more understandable and accessible is key to making people interact with content. Although journalistic style allows less editorial leeway in presenting the facts, starting by breaking down more complex topics could be a good way to start. Journalists are so focused on the “what is going on now,” that sometimes they forget many things have led up to this moment and sometimes that context is especially necessary. Providing context in some accessible form is one way to help people get into the news in the middle of the action.

Even when the late show clips don’t provide all the necessary information, they create dialogue between people. In a generation often criticized for its lack of political involvement, this dialogue can help push young people to become more politically minded and involved as well as keep track of the news.

Even if it isn’t ideal, having some information is better than no information.