A few weeks ago, I logged onto Facebook and one of the first things I noticed in my newsfeed was a link to a “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” video. It was posted by a good friend who recently retired from a decades long career as a nationally syndicated journalist. She said the clip was worth watching not just for its humor, but also for its solid reporting.
If you were living under a rock that week, you might have missed the #Drumpf bit. My friend wooed me first with her comment, but dozens followed her and I heard people talking about it everywhere I went for days. The line between comedy and news has been debated for many years. But as attention spans continue to shrink, it’s interesting to consider the potential someone like John Oliver has to inform people who have a hard time focusing for 30 seconds, let alone 30 minutes.
Last night, I had the opportunity to attend a taping of Oliver’s show with 10 foreign journalists who are part of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship program at The University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism (my alma mater). Most of them work in countries where freedom of the press is not a given, including China, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Liberia, Romania, et al.
After the taping, we sat with Oliver’s news research team, who were as interested in hearing from the Fellows as the foreign press was in learning how the show comes together. As the journalists shared the realities of working under corrupt regimes and in underdeveloped nations, it felt like a pitch meeting.
Here are my favorite takeaways from the night:
- Before the show started to tape, Oliver came out and answered audience questions. When asked if he would ever extend to an hour, he said, “I’m afraid if we did a show twice as long, it would be half as funny.” Something to ponder as we create any kind of content.
- Two news researchers developed the #Drumpf piece. Like all credible journalists, they contacted his campaign and offered him a chance to respond before it aired. He didn’t and they’ve not heard from him since.
- The duo felt like no one in the media had really given the full picture of Trump’s story since he announced his candidacy. He speaks in sound bites and the media gives him a platform to spoon-feed them to the American people. “We like to say people need to eat their veggies, but we can make it fun for them,” said one of the researchers.
- The foreign journalists said they were surprised by how openly the show can call out people in power and commercial entities without fear of backlash. The team explained that airing on HBO means they don’t have to think about ad revenue. One person also said, “We try to only punch up (i.e. on people or organizations with a lot of power) and never down.”
- When asked about the success of the #Drumpf story and their growing influence in general, their reaction was part disbelief and part gratitude for the important, intensive reporting done by traditional journalists that drives their content.
With the antics of this year’s election, there’s no shortage of content for the people who write for Last Week Tonight. But, I’ll be watching closely to see if they pick up any of the ideas they heard from the foreign journalists.