Is comedy the new news?

By Graeme Whitfield on Mar 26, 09 12:01 PM

It's been said over the last few years that the best source of news in America is not its newspapers and certainly not CNN but the comedian Jon Stewart and his programme The Daily Show.

The UK has long needed a Jon Stewart and it may just have found it in Charlie Brooker, a wonderfully-spiteful TV critic who has launched a spin-off of his Screenwipe programme called Newswipe.

It started last night and managed to make TV news in particular look ridiculous. The bit on the excrutiatingly titled Dermot's Economic Cycle - in which Dermon Mernaghan cycles around the south-west and tries to find people in trouble, only to get told that they're actually OK - had me in tears. (Check it out here at 7:20 but beware of the bad language!)

It wasn't hugely complimentary about newspapers either, with Flat Earth News author Nick Davies on as a guest to show how the PR industry can take advantage of badly staffed newsrooms to skew the news agenda.

It's on at 10.30pm on Wednesdays and I would urge you to watch.

Older/Newer

« Gone Green - political special | Have ministers lost touch with reality? »

Professor Paul Younger - on a Newcastle University project harnessing the city's geothermal energy
My postings | My feed

Will in Whitehall - The Journal's Political Editor on life at Westminster
My postings | My feed | Twitter

Nicola Weatherall - Education Reporter Nicola Weatherall is training for the London Marathon.
My postings | My feed

Brenda Boyd - the life and times of a morris dancer
My postings | My feed

Hannah Davies - on family matters
My postings | My feed

Write Said Fred - A view of the world from three feet
My postings | My feed

Adrian Pearson - The Journal's Regional Affairs Correspondent with a look behind the scenes of North East politics
My postings | My feed | Twitter