Award Date

1-1-2008

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Journalism and Media Studies

Number of Pages

87

Abstract

This thesis asserts that news satires (The Daily Show, The Onion, Saturday Night Live, and others) expose the mythological function of news by revealing violations of social values expressed implicitly in news stories. By employing irony, a rhetorical trope, these news satires provide a social critique of people and institutional power. Using a combination of critical analysis, content analysis, and historiography, this thesis defines news, irony, satire, and parody, and explores news satires that have found a mass audience in the United States in the decades following the birth of television. A synthesis of these definitions and explorations will support the claim that satires speak "truth" by exposing idealized social values that have been violated by subjects of news stories or by those who report the news.

Keywords

Breaks; Daily; Exposing; Fixes; News; Satire; Show; Social; Values

Controlled Subject

Mass media; Journalism; Communication

File Format

pdf

File Size

1280 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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