#6 - CRITIQUING A MEDIA CRITIC

 Seth Meyers

    There is a term often heard and said among people that says "everyone is a critic" and, while that is definitely true in most cases, there are some people whose opinion is admired above others and who make a career and a living out of the constant criticism of the media and media personnel. An example of this type of critic is Seth Meyers who is well-known enough to have his own show named Late Night with Seth Meyers. Meyers currently has many job titles such as comedian, writer, producer, and television host and has become best known for his time on Saturday Night Live which eventually led him to getting his own late-night talk show. Seth began his career, after graduating from Northwestern University, as a comedian traveling with a group performing comedy. 

    When Seth was noticed by the SNL producers, his career skyrocketed as he began being nominated for prestigious awards, such as numerous Emmy’s, and was hosting and starring on multiple popular talk shows. Now hosting his own show, Seth Meyers has become a media critic as he examines important current events while still bringing in the comedic relief and interviews celebrities to get all of the details of their lives. Before this assignment, I personally had never really heard Seth Meyers critique nor had I ever watched his show, so I was excited to go into my research unbiased in order to analyze his way of critiquing.

    From the beginning, by watching only a few seconds of one of his videos and in some of the very first results when Googling Seth Meyers, I – and any other viewer – can see that he is a Democrat and many of his videos are centered on political talk and criticizing the right-wing media the majority of the time. In recent times, the talk show host has gotten into a little bit of hot water with Conservatives over his criticism of Fox News, Donald Trump, and many other aspects of right-wing media. Since 2011, Meyers was talked about because of some of the things he said to and about former President Trump who, at that time, was only speaking of running for office. Among the impeachments and insurrection of the capitol, Seth became even more vocal about his disagreement with seemingly all of Trump’s policies and actions. While I personally would not want my political affiliation to be what drives my show or career, everyone is different, and it obviously does not bother Meyers that he is largely known for his political beliefs.

    Aside from the information that is commonly presented by Seth Meyers, I wanted to look closer on how he presented his statements on his show and how that affected his critiquing method. One of the first things I noticed while watching some of Seth’s videos is his unique form of humor and how he delivers that to his audience. Meyers uses his sense of humor in a way that I have not seen too many talk show hosts use. As he delivers his jokes – or jabs – about other people and media personalities, he keeps almost a straight face and very straight voice. There is not many inflictions in his voice as he tells his jokes, and it almost seems like he already knows or expects his joke to work out so much so that he continues right through the script at a very quick and smooth pace.

    I enjoyed watching Meyers’ talk show and I honestly enjoyed most of his jokes as well. In his many years in the industry, Seth has done a great job of finding his “sound” and of creating a type of presentation that makes people remember him. I do think there are a few things about Seth Meyers that might push people away from viewing. Things like where his political stance lies, who he makes jokes about and how harsh those jokes are, and also his weirdly dry sense of humor that not everyone understands could be potentially hurtful to his viewership ratings. However, I do think that Seth will continue to have a steady and popular career as a media critic because of the amount of people who agree with him, laugh at his jokes, and dislike the same people he dislikes. Seth Meyers has created a successful career for himself as a media critic does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#8 - International Media

Image
  COVID coverage around the world          The pandemic has almost completely turned around the lives of virtually everyone in one way or another. While COVID-19 has given us chances to find common ground with many people and has allowed more people to rely on each other, there is a large and steady difference that has occurred between the United States and the rest of the world. Bruce Sacerdote, an economics professor at Dartmouth College, said he began noticing something different while watching COVID coverage on popular news networks in the U.S. . Bruce said that everything seemed so negative despite any promising data that he has heard of surrounding the pandemic. It seemed like these news channels were emphasizing the increase of COVID cases when they were rising. In addition, when these cases were falling in a majority of the country, the news was focusing on the smaller percentage of places where the cases were continuing to rise.     ...
Read more

#4 - TECHNOLOGY

Image
  The Future of Wireless Charging        Typically, when I think of technology, my mine immediately goes to phones. Phones are such a huge part society and companies like Apple and Samsung are constantly stepping up their upgrades in order to have the best cellphones possible. One of the biggest aspects of phones that usually plays a large role in the purchase is charging. People shopping for new phones are often checking the battery life, charging speed, and so much more. Recently, wireless charging has become one of the most popular aspects of cellphones. With charging pads and stands, the need for a charger that inserts into your phone is becoming less and less. While these new forms of charging are becoming more popular everyday, could there be another way to charge your phone that requires even less work from the consumer?     OPPO, a Chinese consumer electronics company, is working to find an answer to that very question. At the Mobile World Co...
Read more