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Review and analysis of the past, present and future of American talk shows in China based on the Daily show experience

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Review and analysis of the past, present and future of American talk shows in China based on the Daily show experience

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Content REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF AMERICAN TALK SHOWS IN CHINA BASED ON THE DAILY SHOW EXPERIENCE by Chaoran Liu A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS) May 2014 ii Acknowledgements I wish to offer a special thanks to my committee chair, Professor Jerry Swerling, for providing insightful comments when I was at a loss to proceed during the early stages of writing this thesis. Many thanks to my second and third reader: Professor Jennifer Floto and Professor Jay Wang who gave me many fruitful ideas and helpful advice along the way. Writing is often a solitary undertaking, but not in the case of this thesis, for I would not be able to finish it without the help of many other people. I would like to thank Gudabaihua for his honest and inspirational answers to the interview questions; as well as the account holder of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’s Chinese Fansite” on Weibo.com whose kind retweet of my survey invitation statistically substantiated the position of this thesis. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements.....................................................................................................................................ii List of Figures..............................................................................................................................................v Introduction.................................................................................................................................................1 Chapter One: The Rise of American Talk Shows in China....................................................................2 Overview...................................................................................................................................................2 A Need for Research.................................................................................................................................4 Chapter Two: The Development of Talk Show Programs in the U.S. and China................................6 Evolution in the United States...................................................................................................................7 Tabloid Talk Shows in the U.S...........................................................................................................8 Late-night Talk Shows in the U.S......................................................................................................9 News Satire Talk Shows in the U.S..................................................................................................10 Importation of Talk Shows into China....................................................................................................10 Tabloid Talk Shows in China...........................................................................................................11 Late-night Talk Shows in China......................................................................................................13 News Satire Talk Shows in China....................................................................................................14 Chapter Three: The Role of Talk Show Programs in Bringing about Changes.................................15 The Changing Zeitgeist...........................................................................................................................15 The Road to Freer Media........................................................................................................................17 Chapter Four: The Daily Show’s Influence............................................................................................24 Formation and History...........................................................................................................................25 Influence..................................................................................................................................................27 Analysis of Popularity.............................................................................................................................28 Chapter Five: Profile of The Daily Show’s Chinese Audience..............................................................31 Breakdown of Survey Results..................................................................................................................31 Revelations..............................................................................................................................................38 Chapter Six: The Future of Chinese Talk Show Programs..................................................................40 Online Talk Shows..................................................................................................................................40 Beijing Talk Show Club..........................................................................................................................41 Liberal-leaning Government Leaders.....................................................................................................42 Volunteer Translators and Chinese Content Providers..........................................................................43 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................48 iv Bibliography..............................................................................................................................................51 Appendix A: Interviews............................................................................................................................58 Appendix B: Survey..................................................................................................................................63 v List of Figures Figure 1: Profiles of The Daily Show’s Chinese and American Audiences ................................ 32 Figure 2: Political Ideology of The Daily Show’s Chinese and American Audiences ................ 33 1 Introduction Chinese television programs have been drawing inspiration from their counterparts in America since the founding of the state television network China Central Television (CCTV) in 1958. This is especially true for the development of talk shows in China. Against the backdrop of political and economic reform in the 1990s, a steady stream of American talk show programs was imported, then adapted for the Chinese audience, starting with the Chinese version of The Oprah Winfrey Show – called Tell It as It Is – in 1996, which marked the beginning of a new era. Recent years have seen a new cycle of importation of American talk shows: Thanks to the less-regulated Internet and with the help of volunteer translators, a number of American talk shows, particularly the late-night and news satire sub-genre, were introduced to China through the Internet and have attracted a growing online follower base. Meanwhile, programs of similar format have mushroomed in China both on television and on the Internet. The following thesis will(1) explore how American talk shows influence the Chinese audience by analyzing the experience of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the most popular American talk show in China; and (2) assess the extent to which such influence may be instrumental in creating a more favorable environment for domestically produced talk shows in China. 2 Chapter One: The Rise of American Talk Shows in China Overview Jon Stewart announced on his April 10, 2013 show that a previous segment on North Korea, titled “Nuke Kid on the Block,” had racked up three million hits from Chinese viewers, who had seen the show in scattered subtitled clips on Chinese video sites(nihilism). He therefore concluded that he had been “doing the show in the wrong country”(“Big Ratings”). Wrong country indeed. China in recent years has seen a huge increase in the number of domestic viewers of American talk shows. Limited access and language barriers notwithstanding, the Chinese fans have managed to enjoy translated talk show videos for free with the help of more linguistically-capable compatriots such as Gudabaihua, the most popular talk show translator whose hundreds of translated clips have attracted a staggering 1.3 million followers on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. What’s more, he is also responsible for inventing and popularizing Jon Stewart’s Chinese moniker: “çø”, or “Jiong Si Tu”, an elegant translation based on pronunciation that cleverly adopts the fashionable Chinese character “ç”, which stands for exactly what it looks like: A frustrated, embarrassed face that Gudabaihua thinks perfectly fits the description of Stewart himself(Osnos). The rise of American talk shows on the Internet is driven by precisely such grassroots volunteers who simply want to share valuable resources with like-minded others, and as it turns out, there is a huge audience to be satisfied. At the time of writing, there are at least 40 volunteer translators on Weibo who work on the translation of a particular talk show and take care of the entire process, from downloading the source file to uploading the subtitled clip, all for free. A number of these volunteer translators, including Gudabaihua, Guanxin, The Minority, and MaxPayne999, have partnered with Sina – one of the biggest online media companies in China 3 and the owner of Weibo – to launch a dedicated section on their website focusing exclusively on American talk shows, with subtitled clips of various programs from Conan to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno being updated on a regular basis(“American Talk Shows”). Even CCTV, the stiff mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China, saw the value of American talk shows with a pragmatic focus on their outspokenness: “Favorable” talk show segments are often appropriated and featured on CCTV’s own news programs as a way of borrowing American people’s own voices to criticize the American government’s wrongdoing. An example would be the inclusion of the entire three-minute subtitled snippet of The Daily Show on their news channel on May 7, 2013, when Stewart mocked President Obama’s indecision on the closing of the Guantanamo prison(CCTV.com, “Guantanamo”). Although the motive was not entirely noble, CCTV, which claims to have a daily audience of 250 million (“About Us”), it did, in effect, help further promote American talk shows using its far-reaching influence. It is worth adding that an American teen’s controversial remark made on Jimmy Kimmel’s program regarding “killing all the Chinese” in October 2013 very possibly helped, too, as the news picked up considerable media attention in China(Duke). Such influence and interest might help explain the new cycle of importation of American television programs, especially the talk show genre, in recent years. Among the many new programs launched in China within the last two years that label themselves as “talk shows,” more than five of them greatly resemble the late-night sub-genre in format; and two Chinese talk shows seem to be emulating their news satire counterparts in the United States, at least within their opening animations. The outward trappings of American talk shows can easily be emulated, but the essence that makes them successful is more difficult to be duplicated in China. Under the authoritarian 4 rule of the Communist Party, it is still nearly impossible for Chinese broadcasters to match the outspokenness and confidence with which American talk show hosts, or journalists in general, speak the truth to the public and poke fun at politicians and celebrities. Nonetheless, comparisons between China and the United States reveal some commonalities in their respective evolutions of talk show programs, and talk show programs have played similar roles in promoting press freedom in both countries. The ultimate question that this thesis tries to answer is: What will be the result of the increasing popularity of American talk shows in China? In order to understand the present and make reasonable predictions for the future, it is necessary to go back in time and examine the historical development of talk shows in both countries. A Need for Research Talk shows, especially those that fall into the “late-night” genre, play a huge role in shaping the public’s perception of politicians and celebrities in the United States, and the result of this growing importance is that professional political strategists now take the time to monitor and analyze the shows nightly (Weinraub). Despite the fact that introduction of talk show programs in China started as early as the 1990s, it wasn’t until recently that the popularity of those more influential television programs of such genre – namely, among others, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – originated from the United States gained considerable currency in, ironically, China’s cyberspace, yet academic research on the rise of such imported programs is still scarce. The author wishes to bridge the gap in this particular area with this thesis by attempting to draw a rough picture of the current prospects of American talk shows in China. In preparing 5 for this thesis, the author conducted both secondary and primary research. Secondary research included review of news articles, blogs, studies and reports, websites and books. Primary research included both qualitative and quantitative approaches. For the qualitative part, a lengthy e-mail interview with Gudabaihua, the voluntary translator who is quite possibly the most prominent figure in promoting the popularity of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and many other similar programs in China, was conducted in hopes of drawing insights from his hands-on experience with the rise of American talk shows. Excerpts from the interview will be included in conjunction with survey results to help paint a clear image of Stewart’s Chinese audiences in this thesis. The quantitative survey was conducted via Qualtrics, an online survey service. Data were collected utilizing a pilot survey of a convenience sample of Weibo users. The survey was open from November 5, 2013 to January 12, 2014. Invitations to complete the survey were distributed on Weibo with the help of Jon Stewart’s unofficial Chinese fansite’s Weibo account (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart's Chinese Fansite), whose retweets helped garner a substantial amount of respondents. A total of 811 responses were recorded. Survey questions are included in appendixes. 6 Chapter Two: The Development of Talk Show Programs in the U.S. and China Television talk shows are an invention of 20 th century broadcasting that takes an old form of communication and transforms it into a low cost, but highly popular form of information and entertainment. The origin of such programming genre can be found in a variety of earlier sources, including radio, vaudeville and popular theater (Timberg). Of course, not all programs that feature talk, such as game shows or dating shows, are considered “talk shows.” The Museum of Broadcast Communications makes the distinction between “television talk” – unscripted but highly structured forms of conversation that are directly addressed to the audience, the category to which game shows and dating shows belong – and “talk shows” – shows organized clearly and self-consciously around “talk” per se(Timberg). Talk shows have been on television since the earliest days of the medium, yet arguably the era of the television talk show began in 1951 when Joe Franklin took up the job as the host of The Joe Franklin Show(Deering). Since then, hundreds of talk shows have appeared and disappeared from the air in the 70-odd years of American television history. The line between “television talk” and what formally constitutes a “talk show” is often blurry and shifts from time to time as new sub-genres of talk show emerge(Timberg). News and entertainment are the two central traditions that talk shows originally emerged from, and they provide the basis for further modifications – or, the basis for evolution of new sub-genres. Interesting similarities exist between the evolution of species in the real world and that of talk show sub-genres. Both evolved from common ancestors(last universal ancestor, the most recent organism from which all organisms now living on Earth descend vs. early radio programs and vaudeville shows); both involve the process of selection (nature vs. market forces); and both are advanced by limited modifications based on previous generations. 7 It is this evolutionary process that made possible the creation of the many sub-genres that American and Chinese audiences are familiar with today. This chapter will explore the historical development of such process, and how it reflects a growing trend towards the blending of journalism, entertainment, and satire in both the United States and China. Evolution in the United States Defining talk show sub-genres can be quite daunting as there is not a “standard” format to follow, and there are many ways to tell a good story. Hard news, soft news, entertainment or public affairs topics can all be built around a single topic (Donahue, Oprah, and Geraldo), an expert panel (Washington Week in Review), a panel and news figure (Meet the Press), a magazine format for a single topic (Nightline), a magazine multiple topic format (Today, Good Morning America), or a one-on-one host/guest interview (Barbara Walters Interview Special)(Timberg). When the facts that such shows can be structured around specific interests(there are talk shows that focus on such subjects as economics [Wall Street Week] or sports [Sports Club]) and specific time blocks(i.e. early morning, late morning, day time, late-night) are taken into consideration, the resultant permutations and possibilities are simply too vast to calculate (Timberg). This thesis deals with the three most established sub-genres – “tabloid,” “late-night” and “news satire” – due to their prominence, popularity and relevance to the topic at hand. The need to maintain focus and remain within space limitations make it impossible to describe or analyze the many sub-genres that emerge when examining such factors as the proportion of news to 8 entertainment, the focus on a particular subject, or the personalities and management styles of the hosts, etc. Tabloid Talk Shows in the U.S. A tabloid talk show is a sub-genre characterized by discussions and debates of emotional and sometimes provocative social issues, including (but not limited to) infidelity, questionable paternity and sibling rivalry that achieved peak viewership during the late 20th century,(Tennant, “Top 10 Tabloid Talk Shows”). Reaching out mostly to the stay-at-home demographics, the first widely successful talk show of the sub-genre was the 1970 The Phil Donahue Show, which featured audience members talking about social issues that affected their lives. Similar programs in that period include, among others, The Les Crane Show hosted by Les Crane, on which the British rock band The Rolling Stones made their first American television appearance (Weber). A decade later, Oprah Winfrey further popularized the sub-genre with her The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986, making it a lucrative industry that attracted a handful of copycats in the next two decades or so, with each competing to be more edgy and controversial than the last(Timberg). It was, however, precisely because of the pursuit of edginess and provocativeness that this sub-genre earned the title “trash TV”(Braxton), as controversy or confrontation on such programs seemed deliberately staged and crossed the line of taste and appropriateness. One example would be Geraldo Rivera, the host of the eponymous show Geraldo who, in 1988, invited a group of white supremacists, anti-racist skinheads, African-American activists and Jewish activists to come together on stage and turned the arguing into a physical confrontation 9 that eventually resulted in a broken nose for Rivera himself(Tennant, “Top 10 Tabloid Talk Shows”). The decline, if not the demise, of this luridly entertaining sub-genre came in the early 2000s. Many media analysts attributed this change to increasing competition from cable television and an increased number of women in the workforce(Mifflin), which promoted the popularity of other formats of talk show programs, particularly the late-night sub-genre. Late-night Talk Shows in the U.S. A late-night talk show is a comedy-oriented variety show that airs late at night, and is the format that most viewers picture when they think of a talk show: Comedic monologue, host behind a desk, sidekick, celebrity guests and house band(Tennant, “Late Night Shows”). The history of the sub-genre dates back to as early as 1954 when Tonight Starring Steve Allen debuted on NBC, and six decades later, the late-night sub-genre has become quite possibly the most famous talk show format, attracting audiences with its well-proportioned mix of news and entertainment. Poking fun at politicians has become part of the sub-genre’s tradition, and the impact that they have over their audiences seems, at times, to assume that of political commentators, if not influencers or leaders(Timberg). In fact, many Americans are now turning to late-night talk shows for political and public affairs news, as the topical jokes offered by late-night hosts are both entertaining and informative(Moeba). However, despite all the mockery and satire targeted at political figures, especially in the monologue segment with which such shows usually open, the majority of the sub-genre’s content 10 is nevertheless apolitical, as attested by the many harmlessly comic sketches present on many shows. News Satire Talk Shows in the U.S. In 1999, comedian Jon Stewart and his production team identified an opportunity for a journalism-oriented, “news satire” talk show. The result was The Daily Show – a type of parody presented in the format typical of mainstream journalism that relies heavily on irony. News satire has had a long history in print media, yet it wasn’t until Stewart came on the scene that this sub-genre became popular first on the cable network itself, and then on a much larger scale. Over the years, The Daily Show has grown both in popularity and prominence, as its topical humor and satirical take on the news has grown sharper and more focused(Tennant, “The Daily Show”). The demise of tabloid talk show, the longevity of late-night, and the rise of news satire form only part of the evolution of talk show sub-genres. As with the evolution of species, those built around strong internal constitutions (talented hosts, effective production teams, etc.) and shaped from without by powerful economic, technological and cultural factors, are favored by the selectiveness of market forces, and the result can be seen as a visible shift from pure entertainment to a journalism/entertainment hybrid. Importation of Talk Shows into China The development of China’s television industry started rather late due to historical and political reasons – an important fact that has, at times, limited Chinese television practitioners’ ability to create “original” programs. Thus China’s evolutionary process took – and continues to 11 take – a different path which at first relies on the importation, and later on the adaption of foreign programs to suit the political and social conditions in China. The nation’s first television station, Beijing Television (later renamed CCTV), began broadcasting in 1958. At the same time when Johnny Carson was engaged in a fierce late night ratings wars with Merv Griffin and Joey Bishop in the late 1960s, China, on the other side of the Earth, was in the heat of the Cultural Revolution, a national upheaval that lasted from 1966 to 1976. Television, back then, served the sole purpose of acting as a propaganda machine used by the government to publicize, explain, and express “class struggles” (Hong, “China”). Thankfully, some new life was breathed into the television industry after Mao Zedong passed away in 1976, when reform, which first started in economic and technological fields and then expanded to cultural and political aspects, was starting to take form. Among the most important achievements of the reform period were the changes in regulations affecting programming importation. Before the reform took effect, such importation was quantitatively limited and ideologically oriented: Almost all of the programs imported prior to 1978 were from fellow socialist countries, and those few Western programs that were exempt from the ban were all socialism-extolling in content(Hong, “China”). Tabloid Talk Shows in China It took the lift of the restrictions on importation and the resurrection of advertising to revitalize television into a commercialized and market-oriented medium, and it was the reform in political, economic aspects that provided Sun Yusheng(vice head of CCTV responsible for the creation of Oriental Horizon in 1993, the first morning news program in China) with the courage to try something new in the early 1990s. 12 Sun stumbled upon a now-unknown American talk show several years earlier, which offered him inspiration when CCTV’s programming reform was in full swing. Sun decided to create a talk show program that, like Winfrey’s and Donahue’s shows, allowed audiences to participate in discussions of social and personal issues – a first-ever in China’s television history. The result was the legendary tabloid talk show Tell It as It Is, which made its debut on CCTV as the special weekend edition of Oriental Horizon on March 16, 1996. A huge ratings success, Tell It as It Is inherited almost every element of The Oprah Winfrey Show: Humorous host, subject-matter experts as guests, one-take recording procedure, participation of the studio audience and even an in-house live band – except that Cui Yongyuan, the host, did not enjoy quite as much latitude as Winfrey did in what could and could not be discussed on television. Fully aware of the free-spirited nature of talk show programs and their tendency towards political incorrectness, Sun made sure the nascent program didn’t cross the line by deliberately steering away from sensitive topics. The show’s topics, in the beginning, primarily revolved around ethical issues such as the merits of corporal punishment, which then gradually shifted towards topical public affairs in later years as the Party’s tolerance to criticism built up(Sun 163- 177). Tell It as It Is, the archetypal trailblazer of Chinese talk shows, triggered the explosion of a multitude of similar tabloid programs in the years to follow, but was eventually dropped by CCTV in 2009 due to unsatisfactory ratings. The program’s rescheduled time block from morning to prime time directly pitted the tabloid talk show against very popular soap operas, and ratings dropped from 5.4 to 0.66 in less than a decade(Geng). In its place came numerous programs that had a strong leaning towards what is defined as “television talk,” including the interview program Life of an Artist. 13 Late-night Talk Shows in China It wasn’t until 2010 that the late-night sub-genre was imported to China for the first time, as Mr. Zhou Live Show made its debut during the Spring Festivals of that year, featuring the comedian Zhou Libo as the show’s host. Mr. Zhou Live Show differed from previous tabloid talk shows not only in its monologue- and-interview format which hews closer to the late-night sub-genre tradition, but also in its unprecedented audacity to poke fun at topical social issues and public affairs, which, among others, included the anti-corruption campaigns in the south-western region of Chongqing and the smog pollution in Beijing, and was seen by scholars as the exemplar of media exercising its role as government’s watchdog(Chen et al.). Mr. Zhou Live Show was a long way from the era when open debate on ideology was not allowed, as was the case with media criticism of the Party, government and high ranking officials, policies and affairs (Hao). The improved though still limited latitude given the show encouraged the emergence of similar programs on regional television stations, such as The Banquet and Tonight's 80s Talk Show, which aired on Ningxia Station and Dragon Television respectively – all adopting the late- night format, with various degrees of modifications being added to suit localization purposes. For example, all of these borrowed talk shows have interspersed the hosts’ monologues with supposedly “funny” sound elements and pre-recorded applauses in hopes of augmenting the effect of the jokes – a typical practice of entertainment programs in China. Clearly the regulatory and cultural environments had evolved to the point where topical affairs could indeed be subject to ridicule and criticism on talk show programs, though rarely are political issues ever touched upon, and a large part of the opening monologues is usually filled with rather feeble gags cribbed from the Internet. 14 News Satire Talk Shows in China Finally, an attempt at introducing the news satire sub-genre to China was made in 2012 when the Shanghai-based program Talk Tonight was launched. The program’s intent to emulate Jon Stewart was obvious: The studio, the table, the opening animation and almost everything else that Talk Tonight proudly exhibited bore a striking resemblance to elements of The Daily Show, except for the fact that the hosts – Chen He and later Chen Liqing – chose to talk about college students spending too much of their parents’ salaries, while on the day before, Bo Xilai, a former Politburo member and the party secretary of Chongqing who fell from power, was on trial and was sentenced to life imprisonment for embezzlement, bribery and abuse of power. A truly Jon Stewart-like program probably would definitely not have missed this prime opportunity for satire. As demonstrated by the aforementioned examples, the evolution of talk show sub-genres in China followed the same pattern as seen in the United States, though through the different process of deliberate importation rather than original creation. Despite this fundamental difference in the production aspect, market forces have resulted in the same shift of focus from entertainment-oriented tabloid programs to blended journalism/entertainment shows. 15 Chapter Three: The Role of Talk Show Programs in Bringing about Changes An integral part of democracy, freedom of speech is the cornerstone of journalism because it enables criticism of the government and advocacy of unpopular ideas that some people may find distasteful. The ability to talk freely is precisely what makes talk shows different from televised propaganda, and such freedom is protected in theory in both the United States by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution(US Const. amend. I), and in China by Article 35, Chapter Two of the Chinese Constitution(“Constitution of the PRC”), yet in reality the freedom of speech is often hard-won. This chapter will explore how talk show programs in the United States and in China have contributed to the betterment of their respective societies by changing the social zeitgeist, pushing for more media latitude, and enhancing free speech. The Changing Zeitgeist In any given era, there always seems to be a mysterious, spoken or unspoken consensus about what can and cannot be talked about, what is and isn’t morally acceptable, as the British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins observes: The changing zeitgeist … spreads itself from mind to mind through conversations in bars and at dinner parties, through books and book reviews, through newspapers and broadcasting, and nowadays through the Internet. Changes in the moral climate are signaled in editorials, on radio talk shows, in political speeches, in the patter of stand-up comedians and the scripts of soap operas, in the votes of parliaments making laws and the decisions of judges interpreting them(391). Talk show programs, among other types of information-transmitting media, have been instrumental in expanding such consensus, and they can sometimes act as the original driving 16 force of the changes in zeitgeist by proactively exploring topics that are considered taboo, and consequently help create a better environment for mass media in which fewer limits are imposed. Take same-sex marriage in the United States for example. Currently, 17 states plus the District of Columbia allow gay marriage – a huge change compared to zero states just ten years ago, when the ruling of Goodridge v. Department of Public Health in 2004 made Massachusetts the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage(“17 States with Legal Gay Marriage”), and the percentage of people who support gay marriage also increased rapidly from 27% in 1996 to 53% in 2012(Murray). Such tremendous change in social attitude is the result of decades of action by the civil marriage rights movement, which influenced public opinion with a host of debates and protests. Yet it is important to recognize the impact that talk show programs had on society when Les Crane, Phil Donahue, Oprah Winfrey and many others invited gay people and gay activists on their shows, thus putting the same-sex marriage issue on the public agenda and changing, one small step at a time, the public perception of homosexuals from negative to relatively positive. Tabloid talk shows’ power in moving the zeitgeist needle is also visible in China, despite the genre’s short history. In 1999, Cui Yongyuan, the host of Tell It as It Is, invited former Japanese soldier Shiro Azuma on the show, during which Shiro confessed his participation in the 1937 Nanking Massacre in the Second Sino-Japanese War and offered his sincere apology on the spot. That particular episode caused much uproar in Chinese society and triggered discussions about the merits of forgiving Japan(Cui). A study published in 2004 showed that the resentment Chinese people held against Japanese had dropped by 10%, an improvement which scholars have attributed partly to the moral guidance that Tell It as It Is provided(Cheng). 17 The Road to Freer Media It should not come as a surprise that, under two vastly different political systems and driven by vastly different political ideologies, the roads to freer media in the United States and in China are also different in many respects. Although objectively speaking, press freedom has indeed improved since the early periods of both countries’ history, the driving forces behind such changes and the political structures within which such progress is made are profoundly distinctive. The American Revolution was predicated on the ideological basis of citizen journalism which earned support throughout the colonies, but since the founding of the country, the U.S. government's attitude towards journalism has been decidedly mixed(Head), despite the explicit prohibition for Congress to establish laws that abridge “the freedom of speech, or of the press,” as stated in the First Amendment (US Const. amend. I). From President John Adams’ Alien and Sedition Acts which sought to silence journalists who are critical of his administration and the Federalist Party in 1798, to the criminal libel laws passed in 17 states that allow journalists to be charged under seditious libel first starting in Utah in 1823; and from the Near v. Minnesota case in 1931 in which the U.S. Supreme Court holds that prior constraint on newspaper publication is unconstitutional, to the famous New York Times v. Sullivan case in 1964 in which the Court rules that actual malice has to be proven for public officials to win libel suits (Head), it can be seen that the true meaning of press freedom is far from clear-cut as defined by the ambiguous words in the First Amendment. The checkered progress towards a freer press is the result of the perpetual conflict between the government and the news media, the executive branch of the government and the judicial one, with all of whom trying to interpret the exact meaning of the First Amendment at the same time. 18 Referring to the large damage awards against news media which voices criticism of the government, Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., author of the Sullivan case opinion, wrote, “… the pall of fear and timidity imposed upon those who would give voice to public criticism is an atmosphere in which the First Amendment freedoms cannot survive”(New York Times). Thanks to the independent judicial system, the news media in the United States – of which talk show programs are a component – have become increasingly emboldened in fulfilling their role as a “watchdog” in the democratic society, enjoying added protection from libel lawsuits especially after the Sullivan case, which enabled aggressive coverage of subsequent events such as the civil right movement, the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal(Trager et al. 163-64), as well as talk show hosts’ caustic ridicules of politicians and government in no fear of legal backlashes. China, however, takes a different approach. Ranking 173 out of a total of 179 countries on the Press Freedom Index published in 2013(“Press Freedom Index”), the degree of freedom of expression that media in China currently enjoys can only be described as abysmal. Despite the fact that China is quickly becoming a new world leader that rivals the United States, the government has been able to maintain “old-world Communistic policies toward its media but modern capitalistic policies toward the rest of its industries”(Wetherbee, 113-14). Although the Constitution of China, as mentioned earlier, technically allows press freedom, the broadly construed language gives the government leeway to legally censor almost anything that runs afoul of the Party’s values. Such restrictions date back to the earliest days of the nation’s history, when Mao Zedong embellished Lenin's concept of media control and stressed that media must be run by the Party and become the Party's “loyal eyes, ears, and tongue.” The Party requires that 19 “broadcasting must keep in line with the Party voluntarily, and serve the main Party objectives of the time”(Hong, “China”). The structure under which television in China operates is best summed up by Hong Junhao, professor in the Department of Communication at the University at Buffalo, in his book The Internationalization of Television in China: Television is under the direct leadership and control of the Party and run by the government. All stations are under the dual jurisdiction of the Party's Central Propaganda Department and the government's Ministry of Radio, Film and Television … The Central Propaganda Department sets media policies, determine programming content and themes, and issue operational directives. Technological, regulatory and administrative affairs are generally the concern of the government (48). It is true that television's central task today – to serve as the mouthpiece of the leadership – hasn’t changed, yet the extent to which television is used by the Party to impose ideological hegemony on the society has lessened since the economic reforms in 1978, and the progress towards greater latitude is at times quite visible, although such progress has taken the form of a meandering sawtooth wave rather than a smooth incline. There have been a number of setbacks that date back to as early as the dawn of Communist Party’s rule in 1949, when, for example, a “reform” order was imposed on televised cross-talk, the Chinese version of stand-up comedy that usually features more than one performer, to change its purpose from “satirize” to “praise”(Moser). Yet improvements have not been entirely impossible: They are usually driven by either ordinary media practitioners who, through 20 their individual actions, change standards, or open-minded officials who want to change the status quo for the better. The following are two examples that illustrate the different types of driving forces. Tell It as It Is, as well as many other similar tabloid talk shows that emerged during the same time period, is the product of an era which encouraged creativity and innovation. However, such encouragement did not mean unlimited latitude, so the unwritten tolerance regarding what could and could not be said on television often took the form of “adventurous remarks” that are just slightly over-the-top. Tell It as It is was once suspended for two months for “not providing the correct moral guidance” in the early period of the show’s history simply because the creative stance that the host took on a particular moral subject was deemed inappropriate by superiors (Sun 163 - 177). Yet almost two decades later, Wang Zijian, host of Tonight's 80s Talk Show, had the audacity to tell a joke on his show in October, 2013 about how funny it would be if Li Keqiang, the current Chinese premier, shopped online, and couriers delivering his orders shouted out Li’s name in front of the gate of Zhongnanhai, the imperial garden in central Beijing which serves as the central headquarters for the Communist Party of China and the State Council(Tonight’s 80s Talk Show). (It should be pointed out that shouting out recipients’ names is a common practice of Chinese couriers.) Innuendos based on incumbent Chinese political figures were inconceivable just less than a decade ago, let alone direct jokes. It is true that poking fun at Xi Jinping, the current Chinese president, or joking about the impotence of high-level officials are still out of the question, yet less sensitive public affairs and social issues are usually fair game for talk shows these days. The progress towards freer expression in the media is obvious, though still far from ideal by 21 American standards. “The limits on free expression will become fewer and fewer”, says Han Han, the influential Chinese writer-celebrity who owns the nation’s most-viewed blog, “as more people challenge them with borderline infractions that skirt the edge without crossing the line” (Luo, Hong) – such is the mindset with which media practitioners in China have been trying to reduce censorship on free expression. Apart from efforts made from within the media industry, media practitioners sometimes get a boost from without. Substantial improvement, on rather rare occasions, can be achieved with the help of – as the German historian Wilhelm Roscher calls it, “benign dictators” – or “enlightened officials,” in the case of China. For an authoritarian nation like China in which obedience to authority is strictly enforced, such opportunities can only be created by powerful leaders higher up the chain of command. For example, Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader of China from 1978 to 1992, led an economic reform after Mao’s death that eventually, though indirectly, stimulated changes in the television industry. However, China’s inability to allow “free” press in the same sense that Westerners are familiar with is predetermined by the nature of its one-party system, as encouragement for media reform from certain enlightened officials is often at odds with others who prefer that some stories remain unknown. An often-quoted example of how enlightened officials can bring about changes in society is the talk show named Policy Inquiry that was launched in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province, by a local television station in coalition with the local Committee for Discipline Inspection in 2011. Policy Inquiry features an unprecedented highlight in Chinese television history: Public inquiry into accusations of government’s wrongdoing, including food safety, 22 embezzlement of public funds, appropriating government automobiles for private purposes, and so on, in front of a live audience. Stealthily-recorded short video clips that reveal details of such accusations are displayed on the spot, and relevant government officials are then obliged to provide explanations – or more often, apologies – under the watchful eyes of millions of viewers(Hu). The show is held annually at the end of December and has thus earned the title “final exam for government officials,” who, after several rounds of cross-examination, are usually sweating profusely. Such revolutionary and audacious attempts at enhancing media’s role as “the supervisor of authority” was possible only because the highest official, Wuhan’s Secretary of Municipal Committee, Ruan Chengfa, provided unwavering support from the show’s inception to completion, and told the producers “not to be afraid,” and “expose as much scandal as possible” (Hu). However, Policy Inquiry is far from perfect, as it only scratches the surface by singling out questionable individual behaviors rather than investigating the inherent problems of the system itself, and there have been no follow-ups whatsoever after apologies were made once the show was over(Chu, Luo). Scholars are worried that what appears to be a jubilant celebration over the success of anti-corruption is just for show(Chu, “The Future of Wuhan's Policy Inquiry”). Also, the fact that last year’s show got somehow toned down a little bit – accusations and questionings became restrained in comparison with earlier shows – generated suspicions that the show’s producers were bought off by implicated officials. Setting aside conspiracy theories, it is safe to say that Policy Inquiry represents some progress as compared with the era of Tell It as It is, and maybe a freer press in China isn’t so far off after all. But freedom has always been relative throughout human history, so how free is free? 23 And how influential can talk shows get? To answer these questions, it is necessary to establish a base line for comparison first, which is precisely what the following chapter does. 24 Chapter Four: The Daily Show’s Influence The importance of talk shows was unappreciated in the genre’s early days, as they were considered the TV equivalent of Kleenex – disposable after use(Tennant, “Talk isn’t Cheap”). This fact helps explain why the first ten years of Johnny Carson's Tonight Show are largely missing: The old network had a procedure of re-using or discarding videotapes that were considered unworthy of archiving(Carson). However, history has changed that perception, as hosts have become more influential, their shows more topical, the discussions more newsworthy, and sponsors more generous in their support of these shows, which could reliably be counted upon to reach large numbers of target consumers. Arnold Schwarzenegger, for example, announced his intention to run for the governor of California on The Tonight Show(Tennant, “Talk isn’t Cheap”), and so did President Obama, who appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in March 2009 to promote his economic recovery plan(“President Barack Obama”). In fact, talk shows these days are becoming so important that appearances of politicians have become an essential part of political campaign strategy, as such platforms can provide them with access to fragmented audiences and to project their non-political persona, making the once disposable television genre now part of mainstream political discourse(Nisbet). Examples shown above are only the tip of an iceberg of the increasing influence that the comedy-laden talk shows can have on a country’s political and social life. Revealing the hidden part of the iceberg requires taking a look at the exemplar of journalism-oriented talk shows – The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – and understanding its formation, its influence, and why it is so popular. 25 Formation and History Jon Stewart is, among other titles, an American stand-up comedian, political satirist, and author widely known as the host of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, a news satire program that airs on Comedy Central. Jon Stewart was born in New York City on November 28, 1962, and was then raised in New Jersey. In 1984, Stewart graduated from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he studied psychology and played on the men's soccer team. After bouncing among a number of jobs, Stewart moved to New York City in 1986 to try his luck on the local comedy club circuit, and his talent landed him a job at HBO’s The Comedy Channel, hosting Short Attention Span Theater in 1989. Three years later, he launched MTV's first late-night talk show, The Jon Stewart Show – a fairly popular program that was, unfortunately, later outperformed by its broadcast syndication competitors. Eventually the show was cancelled in 1995 after airing only two seasons(“Jon Stewart”). Throughout the 1990s, Stewart was searching for his true place in the talk show industry. Meanwhile, he appeared on several television programs and films, including a British weekly comedy program named Where's Elvis this Week? on BBC; and the 1999 Adam Sandler movie Big Daddy(“Jon Stewart”). In the same period of time, Comedy Central, the cable network that later created The Daily Show, was experiencing its own problems. The network was founded in 1991 as the result of the merger of two short-lived comedy networks(one of which was HBO’s The Comedy Channel, the channel that gave Stewart his first job on television). The fledgling network needed to find its niche, and wanted to produce something new but cost-effective to achieve that goal. It eventually identified political humor as the opportunity for targeting affluent young viewers: 26 Inspired by the funny commentary on President George H. W. Bush’s 1992 State of the Union address delivered by various comedians, Comedy Central realized the value of satirical humor and launched Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher in 1993, in hopes of finding a common place between traditional late-night and political talk shows(Larris). Politically Incorrect was a success, and ABC, the broadcast television network, bought the program in 1996, resulting in a vacancy left to be filled on Comedy Central’s programming slate. The Daily Show was created in the same year as a result, with the similar goal of bringing “the political discourse that people hear in real life”(Jones, 68-69). The relationship between the show’s first host, Craig Kilborn, and the rest of the staff soured over an interview Kilborn gave to Esquire magazine in 1998, in which he was quoted as using defamatory remarks about a female staff member. On Jan 11, 1999, Kilborn(who, at this point, still had a year left on his contract with Comedy Central) left the show to replace Tom Snyder on The Late Late Show. Jon Stewart was called in to fill the vacancy and became the anchor of The Daily Show(later renamed The Daily Show with Jon Stewart), which has run for a good 15 years now(“Jon Stewart Biography”). The show’s success owed much to Stewart, who served not only as its host but also as the chief writer and executive producer. He also brought a sharper political focus on humor, which, as Stewart’s protégé Stephen Colbert later put it, was more “issues and news-driven”(Plume). Stewart made a name for himself covering the 2000 presidential election in the hugely successful series Indecision 2000 which catapulted him into the top ranks of political journalism. His influence on public opinion has expanded greatly over the ensuing decade. At the present time, Stewart is the highest paid late-night host, eclipsing rivals including the recently replaced 27 Jay Leno and David Letterman with annual earnings of $25 to 30 million(“Jon Stewart Eclipses Late Night Rivals”). Since arriving in 1999, Stewart and The Daily Show has received 18 Emmy Awards, including “Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series” for the past ten years (2003 to 2012), an Emmy record for consecutive wins in any category; and two prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for its excellent campaign coverage in the Indecision 2000 and Indecision 2004 series(“Jon Stewart”). Influence Stewart once lost out to Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel for late-night network jobs, but the shifting media landscape has made him the long-run winner, who now enjoys more job security and cultural influence than conventional talk-show competitors and many journalists do. "Jon Stewart has chronicled the death of shame in politics and journalism,” says NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. “I envy his platform to shout from the mountaintop. He’s a necessary branch of government” (Smith). His show was once dubbed as “fake news,” but these days it has become the strongest political voice among young American voters. Surveys have shown that the overwhelming majority of men and women under the age of 35 list The Daily Show as their primary source of television news, and it is the only show to beat out The Tonight Show in the key 18 to 49 demographic, garnering 1.11 million weekly viewers(Moaba). The show’s audiences do not simply watch the show for fun, because, according to the survey conducted by Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, they have demonstrated greater knowledge of political issues than people who regularly read newspapers or watch television news(Long). 28 Stewart has also helped shape potential voter’s decision and perception of public figures. While he clearly jabs at both major political parties, as well as everyone in between, and the guest list of the program betrays no favoritism to Democrats or Republicans or liberals or conservatives(Larris), The Daily Show does help foster negative opinions of candidates from both parties and cynicism towards the electoral system and the news media at large(Zweibel). Analysis of Popularity A number of external and internal factors have helped Jon Stewart cut through the clutter both in the United States and in China. Gudabaihua, the prominent translator of American talk shows, lists four reasons for Stewart’s popularity in China during his interview with the author: First, Stewart looks handsome. A number of female fans are in fact going after Stewart for his looks. Second, traditional talk show monologues are composed of shorter jokes, which are usually far too frequent and unfamiliar to strike a chord with the Chinese audience, because they are more comfortable with dealing with contextualized comedy, such as cross talks. Jokes during monologues often last about only 30 seconds before being switched to the next, to which many Chinese audience find hard to keep up the pace. There is also the problem of understanding the cultural references. Explanatory captions can be of great help, yet talk show jokes are often too short for Chinese audience to fully appreciate what they are about. However, jokes on Stewart's program are often about the same issue, so that within the limited eight minutes or so, Stewart is able to explain the context while lashing out against the culprits. When background information is laid out like this, 29 audience has a better chance of understanding the whole thing. Sometimes Stewart would interact with the so-called senior correspondents, and the conversations and storylines they produce are closer to the taste of Chinese audience. Third, Stewart shows no mercy in railing against the bad guys. Traditional jokes fall short in their ability to delve into a certain issue due to the limitation of time. And broadcast network talk show programs such as The Tonight Show has to play it safe by catering to people of different age groups and political ideologies: Expletives are avoided, offensive words are euphemized, and controversies are shunned. Yet Comedy Central, being a cable network, carries no such burden, as attested by South Park. Blipped out expletives and controversial stances are common features on Stewart’s show, and political satires can be over the top. HBO’s Bill Maher doesn’t even blip out the dirty words, yet his acrid remarks might be too much for Chinese audiences. Lastly, Stewart’s show often features topics that Chinese people are into, such as the presidential elections, government shutdown and the London Olympics (“Interview with Gudabaihua”). Apart from the reasons listed above, other factors driving the show’s success include the public representation and the behind-the-scenes staff of The Daily Show, namely the host Jon Stewart himself and his writers. Hosts are integral to the success of talk shows. The importance of the host to the form of a talk show is indicated by the inclusion of the host’s name in the title, who instills the show with his or her own distinctive personality and style. An example of this would be the six different 30 hosts – Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon – of The Tonight Show and the various changes in direction that these hosts have brought about(Timberg). But the full value of Stewart’s comedic hosting style, which he spent years developing and perfecting, could not have been realized without the help of his writing staff, including Ben Karlin and David Javerbaum, former editor and writer respectively at the fake weekly The Onion. These were crucial hires in the early days of the fledgling program, whose writing staff, at that point, was so used to “making jokes about supermodels”(Larris). From then on, Stewart, together with Karlin and Javerbaum and many others, set out to make the most influential satirical news program the world has seen – and they have surely succeeded. The show’s success also owes much to Stewart’s correspondents, whose roles as satirical experts and field reporters greatly enhance the humor of the show as a whole. During Stewart’s tenure, correspondents such as Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, and John Oliver are more involved with the show than ever, allowing themselves to work closer with the host and writers and thus creating symbiosis. Such tactics have worked so well that during Stewart’s absence in 2013, John Oliver stepped in for him as the anchor for two months, and Stephen Colbert even launched his own spin-off program called The Colbert Report on the same network. 31 Chapter Five: Profile of The Daily Show’s Chinese Audience For decades, education in China favored an antagonistic standpoint against the West, yet the Party’s grip on cultural hegemony began to loosen since the reforms in 1978, and the influx of information in the Internet era has helped further diversify Chinese people’s stance on ideology by exposing them to different views, such as the ones voiced by Jon Stewart and his fellow talk show hosts now commonplace in the Chinese cyberspace. Therefore, logical questions to be addressed include, who is the audience for The Daily Show in China? To what extent are the political views of the Chinese audience affected by the show? How well do they react to this new form of “news reporting,” especially given that it is so different from traditional politically-correct, China-produced news programs? To answer these questions, an online survey was conducted by the author to better understand the influence that The Daily Show has on its Chinese audience. Research results on the program’s American audience, published by The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press in 2012, are used for comparative purposes. Breakdown of Survey Results Evidence collected from the online survey has pointed to the growth of a receptive audience base, with 38% of them watching the show on a regular basis. Apart from the 12% of audiences who first learned about The Daily Show through online news articles, the majority of the audience’s initial contact is made possible mostly by Weibo retweets and through word of mouth, as 68% agree. Survey results have shown that many similarities in fact exist between the two countries’ audiences: The Daily Show viewers, in both countries, are significantly more male (62% in China 32 and 56% in the United States), much younger (97% of the viewers in China are in the 16 to 44 demographic compared with 75% in the 18 to 49 demographic in America), well-educated (62% in China have some college or technical schooling compared to 73% in the United States), and relatively more affluent(see table 1). Table 1 Profiles of The Daily Show’s Chinese and American Audiences Gender (male) Age a Education Level b Income Level c China 62% 97% 62% 60% United States 56% 75% 73% 68% Source: "In Changing News Landscape, Even Television Is Vulnerable." People- press.org. Pew Research, 27 Sept. 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. a. Demographic in China is in the 16 to 44 age group, whereas in the United States is in the 18 to 49 age group. b. Well-educated is defined as having at least some college or higher training. c. Due to the differences in income level in the two countries, affluent is defined as earning more than the median income level of the nation. According to Pew Research, the ideological views of American news audience has remained steady since 2010, in which the conservative end of the spectrum is dominated by regular audiences for Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly, making up more than 50% percent of the audience base; whereas on the other end, liberal viewers of Rachel Maddow are the only news audience that make up a majority (57%), followed by viewers of The Daily Show 33 (43%) and The Colbert Report(40%)(“In Changing Media Landscape”). What is interesting about the Chinese audience is that such pattern of distribution is echoed in the author’s own survey in which 42% of them also identified themselves as “liberals” – that is almost exactly the same number (43%) of American liberal viewers of The Daily Show in the United States. Admittedly, the standards for distinguishing liberalism from conservatism are vastly different in the two countries due to contradictory cultural essences. The American culture with a short history of a little more than 250 years is “built on the basis of individualism and liberalism,” while the “introversive Chinese culture with a 5000 years’ tradition lays stress on collectivism and cultural consensus at the expense of individual voices,” according to Zhu Shida, researcher with the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Zhu) – and a discussion on the exact meaning of liberalism in both countries is certainly beyond the scope of this thesis, yet the telltale similarity in self-proclaimed political views is noteworthy(see table 2). Table 2 Political Ideology of The Daily Show’s Chinese and American Audiences Conservative Moderate/Unsure Liberal China 11% 47% 42% United States 14% 42% 43% Source: "In Changing News Landscape, Even Television Is Vulnerable." People- press.org. Pew Research, 27 Sept. 2012. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. 34 As for the Chinese audience’s preference for The Daily Show’s content, the “monologue” segment is, unsurprisingly, chosen as “the most interesting part” of Stewart’s program by an overwhelming majority of the respondents (96%) in the multi-choice question, followed by “correspondent appearances”(43%) and “other recurring segments” such as the renowned Indecision series (29%), with the “celebrity interview” segment ranking at the bottom (24%). Survey results have shown that the Chinese audience’s interest level in each segment is positively correlated with the degree of Jon Stewart’s personal involvement. Segments with a higher degree of Stewart’s involvement, such as the “monologues” and “correspondent appearances” parts where Stewart acts as the predominant voice in the program’s narrative, attract more Chinese audience members than do those with less involvement, such as “celebrity interviews” in which Stewart spotlights his guests and serves more of a catalyst that seeks to move the topic forward or, occasionally, holds the guests in check when they get loquacious. Noting that the least-involved interviews are also equally, if not more, illuminating and informative as other segments, since a variety of individuals from the intelligentsia, ranging from astrophysicist Neil deGrass Tyson to his rival host Bill O’Reilly, are taking up an increasing percentage of the total guests Stewart chats with(Larris). In fact, many of the interviews that volunteer translators find valuable are also individually captioned, yet the attention they garner is usually incomparable to that of other segments, especially the monologues. As such, the Chinese audience’s preference not only attests to Gudabaihua’s analysis that the show’s popularity at least partially revolves around Stewart’s own charisma, but also reinforces the point that Bernard M. Timberg, author of Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show, makes: Talk shows are defined by their hosts(Timberg). 35 Now that the demographic and psychographic profiles of the Chinese audience have been addressed, it is time to move on to the second question: To what extent are the political views of the Chinese audience affected by the show? Much like Stewart’s impact on his American viewers’ perception of government (Cao), Stewart’s satirical take on public affairs has also shaped Chinese audience’s stance on political ideology, as 53% of respondents agree. 40% of the viewer list The Daily Show as their primary source of news, while 56% support the claim that their perception on politicians and celebrities is shaped by Stewart. Also similar to their American counterpart is how most of the audience were at first attracted by the jokes (as 87% of survey respondents agree), and later walked away with an increased knowledge about public affairs as well as pop culture. The final question to be addressed is: How well does the Chinese audience react to this form of news reporting characterized by its outspokenness rarely seen on Chinese television? Gudabaihua sums up the “two approaches” that talk show hosts often use when it comes to issues related to China, both of which might come off to an average Chinese national as slightly offensive: One, the use of stereotypes in jokes, such as Colbert imitating Chinese accent, Conan and Leno making fun of child labor; and, two, is to capitalize on the country’s growing influence, as Stewart, Kimmel and others never get tired of referring to China’s status as the largest creditor nation(“Interview with Gudabaihua”). Gudabaihua points out that tolerance towards negative reports regarding China might have increased as a result of regular watching, as he expands on this insight in the interview: Many viewers’ tolerance towards political incorrectness is stronger once they realize that almost everybody in the world has, at one point or another, been the laugh stock of American talk shows: Rednecks in the Deep South, W.A.S.P., the 36 Brits, French, German, Australian, New Zealander, Italian, Jews, Latinos, Middle- Eastern, blacks, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, fat people, old people, male, female, handicapped, straight people, gay people, junkies and so on. It gradually dawns on the Chinese audience that talk shows do not pretend to be serious news reporting but are in fact a form of entertainment that caters to the taste of the low, middle and high-brows. Political incorrectness is actually a selling point of talk shows, and the more the Chinese viewers watch the shows, the more comfortable they are with it. Full- length negative reports are usually seen on Colbert and Stewart’s shows, and such content is generally accepted by the Chinese audience. For example, parodies against the smog in Beijing on the show are echoed by satires written by Chinese audiences in the comment section. In general, many Chinese viewers find the sarcasms or parodies on Stewart’s program – as well as those on other’s shows, for that matter – easy to accept, yet there still exist cultural and language barriers that many deem insurmountable, as more than 65% viewers admit in the survey. Take the “Nuke Kid on the Block” episode for example, as the New Yorker contributor Evan Osnos observes, the Chinese people’s reaction to Jon Stewart on the Internet “ranges from bewilderment – his Peter Dinklage reference in a joke about Kim Jong-un’s height may have lost something in the translation – to envy”(Osnos). One reason for Gudabaihua’s popularity on the Internet is the fact that he is willing to go the extra mile by adding additional captions on the video that offer concise but accurate information on whatever unfamiliar concepts that Stewart talks about – which often comes really handy for confused viewers. Again, take the “The Nuke Kid on the Block” video clip, Gudabaihua considerately fills his own viewers in on the reference 37 to the English idiom “new kid on the block” in Chinese. However, much like the Chinese public, cultural references like this, as well as other linguistic technicalities, are also some of the biggest challenges that Gudabaihua himself faces during translation, as he explains in the interview: When I first started, the main obstacle was understanding and differentiating words. Talk shows are usually characterized by high speaking rates. Linked words, when spoken fast, often lead to changes in tones and phonetic reduction. The other obstacle was accent. Talk show hosts, for the sake of parody, often imitate different accents. For example, Stewart likes to imitate Jewish and New Jersey accent; Craig Ferguson often imitates British accent; Jay Leno imitates Arnold Schwarzenegger; Jimmy Fallon imitates all kinds of celebrities. Compounding to the problem is the fact that some hosts themselves have accents: Craig Ferguson sports a Scottish accent, and John Oliver has British accent. Not to mention the guests: Those who sport Egyptian, Indian, Pakistani accents are major difficulties. And then there is the problem of slangs, which I sometimes find very hard to understand, especially when they function as puns or homonyms. An example would be punch lines like "a Democrat sucks, and a Republican blows." Understanding why they are funny requires a large knowledge reserve of slangs, and the real challenge is to preserve the fun after translation. Lastly, cultural background that involves history, current affairs, politics, movies, literature, gossips and all sorts of subjects. Historical examples include former Vice President Dan Quayle misspelling the word "potato," or George H. W. Bush fainting after vomiting sushi at a banquet hosted by the then Prime Minister of Japan, Kiichi Miyazawa, and both of these incidents took place in as early as 1992. 38 As for current affairs, there is the scandal of Toronto mayor Rob Ford; Political backgrounds include the two parties' differences over health care. An example of pop culture would be "Hairy Plotter and the Deathly Hello" during the report on the death of Bin Laden, a parody of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." Literature references can be parodies of Shakespeare quotes or book names; Kim Kardashian's short marriage could be an example of gossip background. Slow accumulation of knowledge is the only way to solve this problem. The Chinese audiences also have several distinctive characteristics that set them apart from American viewers. Despite easy access to the show on the Internet(the official website of The Daily Show, which offers free streaming of past episodes, is surprisingly not banned by the government – more on Internet censorship in China in Chapter Six), the vast majority (71%) of the Chinese audience depends on second-hand channels to watch the show, namely subtitled video clips retweeted on Weibo; although the well-captioned American talk show clips require little to no knowledge of English, the majority of respondents have demonstrated at least some level of English fluency: 58% have passed the compulsory College English Test and 24% have taken overseas English exams such as TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and IELTS (International English Language Test System). In fact, 59% of the respondents have cited learning English as their primary goal of watching The Daily Show, differing from their American counterparts who, for obvious reasons, do not watch Stewart for language-learning purposes. Revelations 39 As more and more people in China are exposed to this new kind of entertainment and are becoming familiar with not only the format, but also the role of satire and parody in storytelling, Chinese television producers see an opportunity in the rise of American talk shows in cyberspace and are capitalizing on its currency in the broadcast sphere, hoping to convert existing fans of American talk shows into domestic ones. The cultural gaps standing between the Chinese audiences and their beloved talk shows present both opportunities and challenges. On one hand a localized talk show can take advantage of such gaps and eliminate many, if not all, of the cultural and language barriers by speaking the same language with the Chinese audience; on the other hand, the essence of many of the seemingly incomprehensible puns and satires on Stewart’s program lies largely not in what peculiar advantages that the English language possesses over the Chinese language that has somehow made such jokes possible, but in Stewart’s freedom to choose whatever words and phrases, cultural and historical references that he sees fit – whether they are liked by the government or not – from the inexhaustible reserve of words that are free from the authorities’ censorship. Chinese talk shows’ inability – and television programs in general – to do that is precisely the reason why, despite the numerous copycats of Stewart or Letterman on Chinese television, many audiences still prefer captioned American talk shows that are a few gaps away on the Internet than linguistically-localized talk shows on readily available television channels. When the “Nuke Kid on the Block” episode went viral on the Internet, one Weibo user picked up the New Yorker coverage and asked, “When will China have its own Jon Stewart” (Xiayuqiaomu)? That is also the question this thesis is trying to answer. Simply copying The Daily Show in China probably won’t work, as regulatory restrictions by the government still apply. However, as Chapter Six will explain, that prospect may indeed be achievable. 40 Chapter Six: The Future of Chinese Talk Show Programs Despite the unfavorable(though evolving) political and regulatory environment, and the many setbacks that have hindered the full development of talk shows in China, several promising factors have appeared in recent years that suggest a more optimistic future. Online Talk Shows The first factor is that the somewhat less-censored Internet in China has not only served as the conduit through which American talk shows are introduced, but also the platform for liberal-leaning Internet-based talk shows to grow and thrive. This is not to say that the laws and regulations have lessened in the slightest degree; in fact, a stricter clamp on free expression has been imposed since President Xi took office, as exemplified by the forced closure of a liberal-leaning website, ImpactChina.com.cn(Haiyan). However, the free-spirited nature of the Internet has presented challenges for the authorities to impose censorship which they are still trying to overcome. An important component to China’s Internet censorship is the two million “Internet monitors” hired by the Central Propaganda Department, whose job is to sift through millions of messages online to prevent criticism of the government and social unrest with the help of a keyword identification software that costs almost $50,000 to develop. Reports filed by these monitors, or “public opinion analysts,” are sent to government officials for their discretion(Hunt, Xu). The job of these monitors has been made somewhat easier by the fact that all of the Internet Service Providers in China are either owned or controlled by the state (Endeshaw, 46), but the vast amount and huge variety of information on the Internet have made it almost impossible for these monitors to catch everything. 41 For example, Weibo’s enormous reach makes it possible to communicate with millions of users almost instantaneously, i.e. an amount of time that is too short for the government to respond and contain the message. And while text-based messages are susceptible to searches and deletion, audio and video clips are less vulnerable to detection due to inherent technical challenges, which might help explain the rampant presence of video clips featuring Yuan Tengfei – the liberal-leaning high school history teacher famous for his outspoken criticisms on Mao Zedong – and The Daily Show itself, which often shows the politically incorrect map of China that excludes Taiwan – a blatant contradiction to the official story which asserts Taiwan to be a province of China. Many media companies in China have taken advantage of the relatively bigger latitude of the Internet and launched their own Internet-based talk shows. The most prominent program in this category is Morning Call, launched by Youku.com in 2012, the show’s host is the songwriter-cum-director Gao Xiaosong, who, after years of overseas life experience, are able to provide fresh and sometimes not so politically correct perspectives on history, culture and other humanities subjects to his Chinese audience. For instance, Gao refuted history textbook’s claim (as well as the national consensus in China) on who provoked the North Korean war – the official story so far is that the only reason China was involved was due to America’s invasion of North Korea – as well as how the war ended – textbooks trumpet China’s glory victory while ignoring its bloodcurdling death toll and avoiding to arrive at the conclusion that it was at best a Pyrrhic victory. At the time of writing, Morning Call’s episode on Korean War is still attracting thousands of hits every day. Beijing Talk Show Club 42 The second factor is the birth of the Beijing Talk Show Club(BTSC) in 2010. BTSC is the biggest stand-up comedian organization in Beijing (and possibly in China) which has hosted more than 500 open-microphone gigs to promote the talk show culture(Jin). Many talk show enthusiasts who come from a variety of walks of life, from programmers to doctoral students, have been able to either throw a punch-line or two as performers or enjoy the gags of fellow performers as audiences at select venues across downtown Beijing on a regular basis. One of BTSC’s spokesperson is Joe Wong, the famous Chinese stand-up comedian whose headlining performance at White House Correspondents' Association Dinner was considered as a watershed event that led to American talk show’s popularity in China(“Joe Wong”). With a growing follower base both on and offline, BTSC has been instrumental in consolidating talk shows as a brand new form of public entertainment, and an alternative to other forms of established recreational activities in town. More importantly, with the increasing media exposure, especially on Weibo, and considering the dampened laughter of televised cross-talks, BTSC has the potential of becoming not only the hangout of like-minded talk show buffs, but also the boot camp of future talk show hosts, just like the American comedy club circuits(Jin). Liberal-leaning Government Leaders The third factor is the advent of the liberal-leaning President Xi who, upon taking office in 2012, has called for the broadest political and economic reforms since the 1990s, including but not limited to punishing corrupt officials, curbing extravagant government spending and reducing perks for officials. Such changes are reminiscent of the ones overseen by Deng Xiaoping some 20 years ago. In a gerontocratic nation like China where retired former leaders still hold sway over the new administration, President Xi’s clamping down on freedom of 43 expression as mentioned earlier is almost predictable and even expected, yet Xi and other members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the top leadership body of the Communist Party of China, have established an unprecedented down-to-earth, friendly image among the Chinese public, as attested by his unannounced visit to a low-end Beijing restaurant to grab lunch in the presence of other everyday patrons(Tao), as well as the Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Wang Qishan who, upon taking office, famously brought down hundreds of corrupt officials, and has also professed fondness of the American political drama House of Cards during a recent meeting(Zhai), which might explain the show’s surprisingly unscathed presence in Chinese cyberspace(Jiang): Authorities probably thought it was unnecessary to censor a TV series that was unofficially given the nod by their own boss, despite its realistic depiction of the wickedness of politicians that Beijing might otherwise find objectionable. Of course, whether Xi and Wang really are the same people they present themselves to be is largely irrelevant to the question if their reform will expand into the cultural sphere and change the press freedom for the better as Deng did, yet many Chinese citizens choose to remain optimistic. Volunteer Translators and Chinese Content Providers Language barriers have presented innumerable challenges throughout the history of mankind, and they are no exception even in the current age of information. Despite impressive advancement in the field of machine translation which utilizes computer software to translate text or speech from one language to another, output quality is still far from satisfactory, thus necessitating human effort, at least in the foreseeable future. Artificial intelligence has yet to 44 tackle issues such as “nuance” or “inside jokes,” both of which are critical to a talk show’s popularity. The countless captioned clips of American talk shows(usually called “fansub”) on Chinese websites are precisely the results of such human intervention – those subtitles don’t make themselves. Many Weibo users, upon being exposed to those well-captioned and self- reproduced clips for the first time, are surprised that these seemingly organized efforts are not the works of hired professionals associated with American networks that are promoting their talk show programs in China. Indeed, the level of accuracy and conscientiousness with which the Chinese volunteer translators, such as Gudabaihua and other latecomers, make captions for talk shows is astonishingly high, more often eclipsing the performance of the so-called professional translators who are authorized and paid to translate subtitles for imported foreign movies. The origin of such grassroots efforts can be dated as far back as the start of the new millennium when foreign movies, especially those made in Hollywood, poured into Chinese cyberspace, thanks to the invention and popularization of the peer-to-peer file sharing protocol BitTorrent, which allows transferring large files, such as movies, at fast speed, thus creating a need to bridge the cultural and linguistic gap. It is these volunteer translators who have proudly shouldered this responsibility. Boosted by the ubiquitous access to the Internet and the stultifying television culture in China which, to use the words of The New York Times foreign correspondent Howard W. French, “vary little in their mixture of endless historical dramas, tepid soap operas and copycat game shows,” American movies and television shows that were not yet imported (such as Prison Break and Lost) saw a huge increase in popularity in China, where grassroots translators have built a virtual bridge for them to be seen by a mushrooming audience of Chinese netizens in an almost real-time fashion, for free, through online “subtitle groups” such as the Big 45 Three – Fengruan, Garden of Eden(of which Gudabaihua is a member) and YYeTs – which all compete for viewers with faster speed and better translation quality – again, all for free(Wu). Over time, the biggest three subtitle groups have developed a triumvirate that saw each of them establishing a solid reputation of their own in the fields of crime, medical drama and sci-fi shows respectively, with the rest of the smaller or newer groups vying for attention. Though operating as non-profit organizations that charge nothing for their effort and make no profit, these innocuous subtitle groups might easily pose legal issues by promulgating copyright-protected material on the Internet, which is why those behind-the-scenes heroes and heroines would rather err on the side of caution by using aliases during interviews than divulge their real identity in any form(Hao et al.). Most, if not all, of these subtitle groups are revolving-door outfits that constantly see members come and go. To ensure competence of new comers, many subtitle groups have developed their own “exams” to gauge the caliber of prospective applicants from all walks of life. These volunteers mostly bear the simple motive of improving their language skills and, probably most importantly, to achieve self-actualization(Hao et al.). Once accepted, these applicants’ sense of responsibility and time-management skills will be pushed to the limit as they will be working under constant deadline pressure while ensuring that quality will not suffer – such rigorous requirements are certainly conducive to the betterment of one’s linguistic capabilities, but they are also one of the main reasons many members leave. However, as the available online resources of foreign entertainment diversified in recent years, the need to translate other forms of in-demand programs, such as game shows from Japan, soap operas from Korea, and the new kid on the block – American late-night talk shows – was noticed by a new cycle of volunteer translators, who, rather than follow the traditional “career 46 path” of working on movies and television shows, decided to blaze a new trail. One such vanguard who has found his own niche is the prominent Gudabaihua, who elaborates on his initial contact with late-night talk show during his interview with the author: The first time I watched late-night talk shows was seven years ago. I, like many millennial college students, enjoyed playing basketball, online gaming and American television series. And again, like them, I watched those programs through various BitTorrent websites, both domestic and abroad. Having watched a number of TV series, I was then exposed to the Oscar Awards of TV series – the Emmys. I thought, for many years, that different award entries would go to different people at different times. But to my surprise, the “Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Series” category was hogged by the same winner for years in a row. Curious, I tracked down the program to see what it was all about. I was attracted by such trenchant and smart comedy after watching several episodes, and then it became my all-time favorite. The comedy program was none other than The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. And that serendipitous finding marked the beginning of Gudabaihua’s four-year journey of voluntary translation of American late-night talk shows(and a wide range of trivialities that he finds interesting), with a special focus on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The popularity of Gudabaihua’s translation catalyzed the emergence of more “fansubbers,” either freelanced or affiliated, to focus on the translation of American talk shows, with each working exclusively on one particular show, as mentioned in Chapter One. Gudabaihua, though not officially affiliated with his fellow “imitators,” would, from time to time, kindly retweet some of the newcomers’ 47 works to boost their popularity, using the far-reaching influence of his Weibo account and showing good gestures of camaraderie. With Chinese Internet companies like Sohu and others realizing the potential value of American talk shows to absorb advertisement revenue and view hits, numerous subtitle groups and individual translators have been approached with remuneration to sell their self-made subtitles to facilitate the exclusive airing of licensed American and British television series such as Sherlock, 2 Bork Girls on Chinese content providers(Hao et al.), while all proceeds will be spent on server maintenance to preserve the non-profit nature of the subtitle groups. According to a report on CCTV’s official website CNTV.cn, SohuTV.com is China’s largest provider of American shows, with 2,000 episodes to date – translated and released on its website almost simultaneously, minutes after being aired in America(“More Chinese Content Providers”). That is certainly good news for American television series translators, but what about those who work on American talk shows? Nothing too exciting has happened so far, but with Sina, one of the biggest Internet companies, launching its own dedicated though unlicensed section for American talk shows and garnering attention for this rather new form of American culture, chances of American talk shows following in the footsteps of other television shows are probably greater than slim, provided that the volunteer translators keep up the good work and the political environment continues to improve. 48 Conclusion It is rather sad to see that the potential of American talk shows – the program format that has firmly established itself as the paradigmatic icon at the crossroad of entertainment and journalism in its country of origin – has not yet been fully tapped in China, where the localized adoptions, under unfavorable political and regulatory pressure, are merely scratching the surface and not living up to the ideals of their American counterparts; yet the mere presence of American talk shows – and their derivatives for that matter – on Chinese television stations and in Chinese cyberspace is enough to necessitate the need for further research: With a growing follower base and increased media exposure, American talk shows in China are starting to look like something more than a flash in the pan, but what changes, if any, will this “cult” bring about? That question is what this thesis is trying to answer. Admittedly, making predictions for anything that happens in a country as vast and diverse as China can be very difficult, yet not entirely impossible. Many comparisons and examples have been drawn through the course of this thesis, and they boil down to serving one purpose, which is to demonstrate that the symbiosis between journalism-oriented talk shows and governments is indeed possible for China, a country still in transition. The thesis starts by examining the two patterns in earlier chapters to prove that the two countries, despite their differences in many aspects, are in fact moving towards the same direction, in which the journalistic value of talk shows is getting recognized, and the progress towards a better zeitgeist and freer expression is made both from within and without, although with quite different approaches. Then in Chapter Four, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is selected as the ideal model due to its prominence and popularity in both countries. A closer look at its formation and history 49 reveals that such an influential program doesn’t emerge overnight; it needs the evolution of many elements – charismatic comedian, effective production team, favorable environment that allows free expression – to achieve the international stature it has today. Survey data on the Chinese audience profile reveals that there is, indeed, a growing viewer base that is receptive to this rather new form of news program, and that sophisticated sarcasm and sincere satires are appreciated, despite the sensitivity of the topics. This insight, hopefully, will serve as a reminder for current talk show producers in China that there is more to learn from American talk shows than the decor of studios, and that the cultural and linguistic gaps that currently exist between American talk shows and their Chinese audiences possibly represent a fine opportunity. Tangible changes have occurred since the era of Mao, and changes will continue to be brought about from either the top or the bottom, or both, as explained in Chapter Three. The question that remains to be answered is when and how, and this thesis takes a tentative stab at both angles by looking at the history of Chinese media practitioners emulating their American counterparts, and what small accrual of improvement they have achieved so far, before arriving at the conclusion that the prospects of Chinese talk shows are in fact looking rosy. Improvements on the various elements that a good talk show program needs are the results of constant contention between government censorship and journalism ideals, driven by adventurous attempts of liberal officials and audacious civilians alike in the age of information characterized by unprecedented openness in political and social life, yet such progress will continue to follow a sawtooth-like path as the road to freer media abounds with setbacks and advancements, with each of them taking turns gaining the upper hand. The many positive indications have made justifiable an optimistic outlook on the future of Chinese talk shows, and 50 hopefully, the powerful social and political potential of such programs will be fully realized, and one day China will have its own Jon Stewart. 51 Bibliography "17 States with Legal Gay Marriage and 33 States with Same-Sex Marriage Bans." Procon.org. N.p., 26 Feb. 2014. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. "About Us." CCTV. n.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014. 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Policy Mic, 13 Sept. 2012. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. 58 Appendix A: Interviews Subject Matter Expert Interview: Gudabaihua Interview questions and answers: Q: Through what opportunity were you first exposed to American late-night talk shows? A: The first time I watched late-night talk shows was seven years ago. I, like many millennial college students, enjoyed playing basketball, online gaming and American television series. And again, like them, I watched those programs through various BitTorrent websites, both domestic and abroad. Having watched a number of TV series, I was then exposed to the Oscar Awards of TV series – the Emmys. I thought, for many years, that different award entries would go to different people at different times. But to my surprise, the “Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Series” category was hogged by the same winner for years in a row. Curious, I tracked down the program to see what it was all about. I was attracted by such trenchant and smart comedy after watching several episodes, and then it became my all-time favorite. The comedy program was none other than The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Q: What are some of the difficulties you encountered while translating late-night talk show programs? A: When I first started, the main obstacle were understanding and differentiating words. Talk shows are usually characterized by high speaking rates. Linked words, when spoken fast, will lead to changes in tones and phonetic reduction. The other obstacle was accent. Talk show hosts, for the sake of parody, often imitate different accents. For example, Stewart likes to imitate Jewish and New Jersey accent; Craig Ferguson often imitates British accent; Jay Leno imitates 59 Arnold Schwarzenegger; Jimmy Fallen imitates all kinds of celebrities. Some hosts themselves have accents: Craig Ferguson sports a Scottish accent, and John Oliver has British accent. Guests can be a problem, too: Egyptian, Indian, Pakistani accents are major difficulties. And then there is the problem of slangs, which I find very hard to understand, especially when they function as puns and homonyms. An example would be punch lines like "a Democrat sucks, and a Republican blows." Understanding why they are funny requires a large reserve of slangs, compounding to the difficulty is preserving the fun while translating them into Chinese. Lastly, cultural background that involves history, current affairs, politics, movies, literature, gossips and all sorts of subjects. Historical examples include former Vice President Dan Quayle misspelling the word "potato" and Bush Sr. eating sushi. As for current affairs, there's the scandal of Toronto mayor Rob Ford. Political backgrounds include the two parties' differences over health care. An example of pop culture would be "Hairy Plotter and the Deathly Hello" during the report on the death of Bin Laden, a parody of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." Literature references can be parodies of Shakespearean quotes or book names. Kim Kardashian's short marriage could be an example of gossip background. Slow accumulation of knowledge is the only way to solve this problem. Q: Based on your observation and experiences, which of the major talk show programs are the most popular among Chinese audiences? What do you think can explain their popularity? A: First, Stewart looks handsome. A number of female fans are in fact going after Stewart for his looks. Second, traditional talk show monologues are composed of shorter jokes, which are usually far too frequent and unfamiliar to strike a chord with the Chinese audience, because they are more 60 comfortable with dealing with contextualized comedy, such as cross talks. Jokes during monologues often last about only 30 seconds before being switched to the next, which many Chinese audience find it hard to keep up the pace with. There is also the problem of understanding the cultural references. Explanatory captions can be of great help, yet talk show jokes are often too short for Chinese audience to fully appreciate what they are all about. However, jokes on Stewart's program are often about the same issue, so that within the limited eight minutes or so, Stewart is able to explain the context while lashing out against the culprits. When background information is laid out like this, audience has a better chance of understanding the whole thing. Sometimes Stewart would interact with the so-called senior correspondents, and the conversations and storylines they produce are closer to the taste of Chinese audience. Third, Stewart shows no mercy in railing against the bad guys. Traditional jokes fall short in their ability to delve into a certain issue due to time limitations. And broadcast network talk show programs such as The Tonight Show has to play it safe by catering to people of different age groups and political ideologies: Expletives are avoided, offensive words are euphemized, and controversies are shunned. Yet Comedy Central, being a cable network, carries no such burden, as attested by South Park. Blipped out expletives and controversial stances are common features on Stewart’s show, and political satires can be over the top sometimes. HBO’s Bill Maher doesn’t even blip out the dirty words, yet his acrid remarks might be too much for Chinese audiences. Lastly, Stewart’s show often features topics that Chinese people are into, such as the presidential elections, government shutdown and the London Olympics. Q: What are some of the most popular topics on The Daily Show among Chinese audience? 61 A: Satires against current affairs are the most popular according to the number of views, including those about China, Korea, the United Kingdom and Russia. Stewart’s satires on presidential candidates attracted a lot of attention during last year’s election season. Q: What do you think are the major influences that the rise of American talk shows has on Chinese audiences? A: First, many viewers’ tolerance towards political incorrectness is stronger once they realize that almost everybody in the world has, at one point or another, been the laugh stock of American talk shows: Rednecks in the Deep South, W.A.S.P., the Brits, French, German, Australian, New Zealander, Italian, Jews, Latinos, Middle-Eastern, blacks, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, fat people, old people, male, female, handicapped, straight people, gay people, junkies and so on. It gradually dawns on the Chinese audience that talk shows do not pretend to be serious news reporting but are in fact a form of entertainment that caters to the taste of the low, middle and high-brows. Political incorrectness is actually a selling point of talk shows. Second, a real America is presented to the Chinese public. American talk shows have provided an opportunity to see America at its best as well as at its worst. And many have come to understand that America is a diverse and multi-faceted entity, instead of a perfect heaven or a veritable hell, as rumored on the Internet. Third, there has been an increase number of people that are interested in politics and current affairs, thanks to the series of programs that focused on election. Many netizens showed considerable knowledge in those presidential candidates based on my observation. 62 Finally, a negative one. Some have used talk shows to their advantage to prove that America is in fact a heaven, while others argued the opposite. Interestingly, the two sides are looking at the same facts. Q: In general, what is Chinese audience’s take on those rather negative reports related to China? A: The talk show sphere has generally two approaches when it comes to China. One is the use of stereotypical stuff in jokes. Colbert likes to imitate Chinese accent, Conan and Leno are fond of making fun of child labors. The other approach is to capitalize on the country’s growing influence. Stewart, Kimmel and others never get tired of referring to China’s status as the largest creditor nation. However, full-length negative reports are usually seen on Colbert and Stewart’s shows, and such content is generally accepted by the Chinese audience. For example, parodies against the smog in Beijing on the show are echoed by satires written by Chinese audiences in the comment section. 63 Appendix B: Survey Survey Questions: Hello Jon Stewart's fans in China, Thank you for taking this survey. The purpose of the following 18 questions is to better understand the habits and thoughts of the Chinese audience of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The information you provide will be anonymous and be of academic use only. The entire survey is designed to be completed within three to five minutes. Please answer the questions truthfully. Q1. How did you first hear about The Daily Show? " Newspaper report " Online news report " Radio news report " Search engine " Weibo (original or retweet) " Recommendation from a friend " Recommendation from a co-worker " Can’t remember " Other (please specify) Q2. What is your preferred way(s) to watch The Daily Show? " Chinese video sites 64 " Through Weibo retweet " The Daily Show official website " YouTube " Through satellite television (Comedy Central) " Other (please specify) Q3. What is your preference for watching The Daily Show? (multiple choices allowed) " Only when huge events in the world occur " Only when huge events in the United States occur " Only when huge events in China occur " On a regular basis " Other (please specify) Q4. On average how often do you watch The Daily Show or parts of The Daily Show? " ___ times a week " Not sure Q5. Which of the following segments of The Daily Show interest you the most? " Monologue " Correspondent appearances " Recurring segments 65 " Celebrity interview " Other (please specify) Q6. Please rank the topics that The Daily Show touches upon from most interested to least interested. " Current affairs and politics in China " Current affairs and politics in Asia " Current affairs and politics in Middle East " Current affairs and politics in the United States " Current affairs and politics in Africa " Current affairs and politics in Europe " Other (please specify) Q7. By choosing a number from 1 (Weak Reason) – 10 (Strong Reason) indicate the extent to which each of the following reasons causes you to watch The Daily Show " I can improve my English skills " I like Jon Stewart’s humorous hosting style " I get to know about current events and politics in the world " I like watching interviews " Other (please specify) 66 Q8. By choosing a number from 1 (Strongly Disagree) – 10 (Strong Agree) indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with each of the following statements. " I learn a lot from The Daily Show " I gain news and current event information from the monologue " The Daily Show helps shape my political views " My perception of public figures (singers, actors, politicians, etc.) is greatly influenced by The Daily Show Q9. Apart from The Daily Show, do you watch other American late-night talk shows? Check all that apply " Conan " Jimmy Kimmel Live! " Late Show with David Letterman " The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson " The Tonight Show with Jay Leno " Late Night with Jimmy Fallon " The Colbert Report " Saturday Night Live " Other (please specify) Q10. Do you agree or disagree the following statements about the difficulties you encounter when watching The Daily Show? (on a scale of 1 to 10) 67 " English listening (speaking too fast and too blurry) " English vocabulary (new words all the time) " Geographic knowledge (names and places that I’ve never heard of) " Cultural references (names of books or movies, etc.) " Cultural barrier (can’t get Jon Stewart’s humor and jokes) PERSONAL INFORMATION Q1. What is your gender? " Male " Female Q2. How old are you? " Younger than 16 " 16-19 " 20-24 " 25-34 " 35-44 " 45-54 " 55-64 " Older than 65 Q3. What is the highest level of education you have completed? 68 " Less than High School " High School " 4-year College Degree " Master’s Degree " Doctoral Degree " Other (please specify) Q4. Current occupation/Area of work " Accounting/Auditing " Administrative " Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations " Agricultural/Forestry/Fishing " Architectural " Arts " Banking/Financial/Economics " Community/Social services/Non profit " Computers/Hardware/Software " Construction/Manufacturing/Installation/Maintenance/Repair " Education/Training " Engineering " Government/Law/Policy 69 " Healthcare " Hospitality/Tourism " Law Enforcement/Military " Science/Laboratory research " Sales " Other (please specify) Q5. What is your monthly income (in RMB) if employed? " Below 3,000 " 3,000-4,000 " 4,000-6,000 " 6,000-8,000 " 8,000-10,000 " 10,000-15,000 " 15,000-20,000 " 20,000-25,000 " More than 25,000 Q6. Which of the following best describes your political ideology? " Conservatism " Liberalism 70 " Somewhere in the middle " I Don’t know Q7. Which of the following English tests best reflects your English level? What is the highest score you received? " College Entrance Exam " CET (College English Test) 4 " CET (College English Test) 6 " TEM (Test for English Major) 4 " TEM (Test for English Major) 8 " TOEFL " IELTS " Other (please specify)

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Asset Metadata

Creator Liu, Chaoran (author)

Core Title Review and analysis of the past, present and future of American talk shows in China based on the Daily show experience

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 04/16/2014

Defense Date 03/24/2014

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag China,Daily show,Jon Stewart,late-night talk show,OAI-PMH Harvest

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Swerling, Jerry (committee chair), Floto, Jennifer D. (committee member), Wang, Jay (committee member)

Creator Email lcr4162@gmail.com,liuchaor@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-378882

Unique identifier UC11295168

Identifier etd-LiuChaoran-2363.pdf (filename),usctheses-c3-378882 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-LiuChaoran-2363-0.pdf

Dmrecord 378882

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Liu, Chaoran

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA