In this Trump era, we need satire more than ever. Just don't expect it to save democracy | Alexander Hurst

"Sometimes the freedom and openness of comedy means it is better able to respond to world events than news media. Take South Park's raucous, unhinged and visually disturbing depictions of Donald Trump most recently, cheating on Satan (who is carrying his spawn) with JD Vance in the White House. Fair enough: Trey Parker and Matt Stone very much own this terrain."

"But there's no reason why satirical TV programmes such as The Daily Show should have to take on the role of news provider, investigative journalist and critic. And yet, over the past three decades, the failings of the US corporate media to adequately cover the country's dilapidated politics has pushed people such as Jon Stewart into filling the void. The problem was identified as long ago as 2000 by the US economist Paul Krugman."

"He castigated the press for being fanatically determined to seem even-handed, to the point they were unwilling to call out outrageous untruths. If a presidential candidate were to declare that the Earth is flat, Krugman wrote, you would be sure to see a news analysis under the headline Shape of the Planet: Both Sides Have a Point. It was this context that provided American satire's cathartic triumph in the first years of the 21st century."

Comedy's freedom and openness allows faster, more visceral responses to world events than conventional news media. Satirical television and late-night comedy have depicted political figures in raucous and provocative ways while also conducting harder-hitting interviews and investigative segments. Failures of corporate US media to adequately cover deteriorating politics and an insistence on false equivalence have pushed comedians to fill informational and critical gaps. Scholars argue that affective shifts have enabled late-night hosts to build trust, permitting political comedy to function as opinionated journalism. Contemporary stand-up performers and satirists increasingly use satire and investigative humor to uncover scandals and shape public opinion.

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