Hilarity in the Newsroom?

Earlier this month Hotair.com posted a satire video
in the mode of Obama Girl but instead it has a guy
dancing with a dress. It was done by the op-ed staff
of The Wtchita Eagle. In the same post Allahpundit
also notes this humorous piece done by the New York Times:



Posted yesterday on Youtube was this funny video of the whole
Sen. Craig debacle. Guess what!!! Turns out it is linked to a
newspaper newsroom! What is going on in our country's newsrooms???

While in J-school I made some news satire pieces. If I could do
it over would I make the same videos? Probably not. I've
gotten over the whole wanting to be the next Daily Show
host, Jon Stewart is doing a fine job. However, Comedy Central if
Mr. Stewart wants to retire soon, I've available and the jokes are
included.

I think people who work in newsrooms need to be careful in not
getting into the world of comedy. I admit it is enticing since you
see so many people getting laughs on television and the internet.
Most of the videos I've pointed where done by people in the opinion
section, which they understandably are given more freedom on what
they can say and do. But ridiculing the people they are talking about in
their op-ed articles strikes me as unfair. There needs to be a level of
professionalism exhibited by the staff of new organizations.

Joking about current events is the trendy and fun thing to do. Hey, a couple
of Bush or Cheney riffs and you've won the crowd. Journalists are
oftentimes smart and witty people whose job it is to focus on current
events. So who best to show up Mr. Leno or Lettermen? But a reminder
to reporters: You are not working to be a dispenser of hilarity but a
disseminater of, uh, news.