Michelle Wolf revealed that Washington journalists don't get political satire

The Hollywood Reporter

"Satirists are not appearing simply for journalists' amusement," says Jeffrey Jones and Caty Borum Chattoo. "Satirists," they say, "want to impart one very specific truth: Comedy is not vulgar; politics is." Jones, the executive director of the Peabody Awards, and American University professor Chattoo have each written academic books on comedy and satire. They say the journalists complaining about Wolf's White House Correspondents' Dinner performance don't understand political satire. "Satire is a verbal assault that passes judgment on those who have violated communal norms," they explain. "And there is a function inherent in comedy that bears reminding; since Aristotle's time, and in the present day, comedy allows a way into cultural criticism that can spark conversation. That satire allows a bit of scrutiny is easy to swallow, of course, when the object of criticism is politicians, especially norm-flouting ones like President Donald Trump. But journalists don't get a free pass just because they are journalists. Washington television journalists, in particular, are participants in power, not just witnesses to it. Satirists are intent on telling Washington journalists that they exhibit a too cozy relationship to power, as Wolf pointed out by noting that not only did journalists create Trump, they still profit from him — as corporations, but also personally."

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