Loading...
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: an Ethnographic Inquiry
Rodriguez, Nathan John
Rodriguez, Nathan John
Citations
Altmetric:
Abstract
This thesis begins with an overview of the cultural significance of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart (TDS), in both popular culture and academic literature. After establishing the importance of the endeavor, I review the tradition of researchers entering the community they study. This leads in to the current project, which is a "behind the scenes" ethnographic inquiry into the methods of production of TDS, that I experienced first-hand as a production intern at the program in Fall 2007. The study includes an extensive review of not only the comedic genealogy of TDS, but the "roots of research," in which I detail some of the classic methods used in my study, modeled after the work of sociologists including Powdermaker, Tuchman and Turow. Section III details the norms of production at TDS, first reviewing the physical setting of the building for additional detail, then breaking down daily organizational routines, and finally, each of the Three Acts of the program. Section IV covers the noetic crisis of the Writer's Guild Strike of 2007, how the organization responded to the issue, and detailed the activities and meetings held at TDS when there was no show to produce. The hope is this inquiry will shed some light on the production processes of TDS, as well as offer a more detailed look inside office culture, while analyzing how the organization -- steeped in comedy and satire -- deals with the very real problem of a strike.
Description
Date
2008-01-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Kansas
Collections
Archive Status
This item contains archived web content.
Files
Rodriguez_ku_0099M_10703_DATA_1.pdf
Adobe PDF, 269.22 KB
- Embargoed until 2158-05-31
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Journalism, Mass Communications, Communication, daily, ethnography, jon, noetic, show, stewart