Bachelor-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2008.

Journalists have insisted that John Oliver has inspired a new kind of journalism. They argue that Oliver's show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has inspired real-world action, a phenomenon journalists have called the "John Oliver Effect." Oliver, a comedian, refuses these claims. This thesis is the result of in-depth research into journalists' claims through the lens of agenda-setting. By conducting a qualitative content analysis, I evaluated the message characteristics of framing devices used on Oliver's show, then compared those message characteristics to the message characteristics and framing devices employed by legacy media.

Satirical news programs are a very popular concept where people tune in to them for a laugh and might leave with a bit more knowledge on the subjects reported. With the popularity of such shows growing the media’s covering of them grows as well. The question is then how the media portrays these satirical news shows. In this study a framing analysis is used to analyse articles by four American news outlets – two traditional and two modern – to assess how the media is portraying the newer satirical news program Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. There has been a lot of research done on how satirical programs affect the world around them but this study instead looks at how the media chooses to portray such a show. The focus is on whether the media treats the program as entertainment or more like another news outlet and what kind of effect that could have on the two genres satire and news. This study shows that the media presents the program as not just a comedy show that makes fun of news but also as a credible source of information. It is portrayed as a bit of both and one is not shown to contradict the other. This indicates that the distinction between genres such as satire and news is blurring which in turn can make it harder for the audience to separate the two and thereby make it more difficult to know what is news and what is not.

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Research into political satire programs show that they can be informative in the same way traditional news inform citizens and that the audience trust the information told by satirists. The political satire program Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has inspired the phenomenon ‘the John Oliver Effect’ due to comedian John Oliver’s ability to influence the world of politics and beyond with his in-depth investigations in serious subjects. In the author’s previous research Last Week Tonight has been portrayed by the media as being a credible source despite being the work of a comedian. This study therefore aimed to research what it is that makes Oliver and Last Week Tonight a credible source and whether some aspects of the reporting can be seen as communication campaign. With the theory of source credibility as part of its core, this study used the method of multimodality to ascertain that the main aspect that spoke to Oliver’s credibility was his perceived trustworthiness rather that his expertise or attractiveness. Using the same method but with the theory of communication campaign as part of its core, the study also ascertained that the program in general possessed some characteristics of a communication campaign but to be completely successful an episode had to possess all characteristics of a communication campaign. Merging this with previous research would indicate that subjectivity – Oliver’s authenticity and honest opinions and feelings – play an important part in his perceived credibility.

Net neutrality is currently one of the most topical government policies up for debate. In the following paper, I will examine three cases in which net neutrality has been threatened by internet service providers and the Federal Communications Commission and reinforced by public interest groups, major website companies, and the public. The online regime has been a critical instrument in the outcome of all three cases, highlighting the role and influence of internet users in the virtual and physical public spheres. Some say that the battle is already lost. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and his Republican majority in the agency are set on and have the capacity to push through legislation that will undo strict regulation of ISPs set by the Obama administration. The vote has yet to take place later this month, but the result should not detract the democratic nature and value from the decade-long debate. Net neutrality has been demonstrative of a civil society, one that uses all the tools, techniques, and platforms available to them in the fight against corporate interest. For its relation to First Amendment rights, its goals of redeeming public interest to rightful owners, and its use of new public spheres to organize civic participation, net neutrality is not only necessary for the success of the Internet, but the debate around it is also indicative of and essential to the growth of democratic debates around public policy.

This master's thesis deals with the implications of metaphorical language, which comedy news programs used to portray Donald Trump as a candidate during the 2016 US presidential election. First, the author outlines the most important moments of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, then introduces the comedy news genre as well as three comedy news programs - The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight and Real Time - which are included in the analytical part of the thesis. The thesis continues with the theoretical and methodological chapters, in which conceptual metaphor analysis based on the works of Lakoff, Johnson and Yanow is presented. The metaphor analysis itself, performed on 73 comedy news episodes, reveals that mostly the same metaphors were used across all three programs and they overwhelmingly portray Donald Trump as non-human. As the election kept approaching, Donald Trump was increasingly portrayed as "a natural disaster," "the apocalypse" or "the Devil." The author suggests that the overall tacit objective of the metaphors used in the three comedy news programs was to dehumanize Donald Trump. Finally, the limitations of the analysis are discussed and suggestions for further research on the implications of metaphorical language are made.

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