Politico stepped in it on Friday with an oddly framed headline about a response Vice President Kamala Harris gave during an interview the day before.

Hopefully the mods are okay with a little journalism about journalism so that people know where Politico stands in terms of being a trustworthy source.

The headline in question:

‘Next question’: Harris evades questions about her identity

The background to the headline is from Harris’ recent CNN interview:

“I want to ask you about your opponent, Donald Trump,” Bash said to Harris. “I was a little bit surprised. People might be surprised to hear that you have never interacted with him, met him face-to-face. That’s gonna change soon. But what I wanna ask you about is what he said last month. He suggested that you ‘happened’ to turn Black recently for political purposes, questioning a core part of your identity.”

“Same old, tired playbook,” Harris replied. “Next question, please.”

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
        377·
        4 months ago

        I wouldn’t say the Daily Show does real journalism. They do make important stories public, but they have a clear slant both in terms of politics and in terms of making it funny.

        • EarthShipTechIntern@lemm.ee
          4·
          4 months ago

          Daily Show and Last Week Tonight have staffs of ardent pursuers of truth.

          A lot of study & journalism goes in to the jokes & it shows.

          Both offer a succinct wrap of the daily (or weekly) news.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
            2·
            4 months ago

            Study and research, definitely. But I still wouldn’t call it journalism. It’s satire based on research. When going for a joke over necessary details, they will often go for the joke. And if you read the story elsewhere, you will see that something important has been left out because of it.

            I love The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight a long with A Closer Look on Seth Myers’ show and I regularly watch all of them, but I still wouldn’t call them journalism. It’s well-researched extremely topical comedy. And that’s fine. That’s a good thing. People can get their information from comedy too. It’s just that you shouldn’t necessarily turn to them for a full picture of a story.

            That said, I would say that’s much less true of Last Week Tonight because they go in depth into a subject. The Daily Show and A Closer Look spend at most 6 or 7 minutes on a subject and have to fit in a lot of jokes.

            • EarthShipTechIntern@lemm.ee
              2·
              4 months ago

              And that’s why I (& sounds like you, too) watch them: as you said they bring valid topics to the table. If they’re skewing the facts severely, they make it pretty obviously part(y) of the jokes. Doonesbury was always more of a news media than national inquirer.

              Comedy delivered from a proper court jester beats the telltale gossip rag for actual useful information every day of the week.

              That in mind, Late night, Tonight shows, daily shows all do a better job of delivering news than Fox.

              Plus, they tell you it’s only part of the story or give multiple takes on the situations.

              Fox, not so much. Some experts agree… Valid topics are only those approved by Sun times & RT.

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
                2·
                4 months ago

                I don’t disagree with anything you’re saying. I’m just saying it isn’t journalism. It’s informational, helpful and sometimes even profound- but it isn’t journalism. It’s just not journalism when you sacrifice information for humor.