海角大神

Has incisive investigative journalism, sharp-eyed cultural criticism, and engaging news-related interviewing found its most contemporary television voice with John Oliver?

Just about to mark its first-year anniversary, HBO鈥檚 鈥淟ast Week Tonight with John Oliver,鈥� version 2.0 of the so-called 鈥渇ake news鈥� genre popularized by the likes of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert over the past decade, surprised its growing number of viewers on Sunday with an unannounced taped interview with 鈥渢he most famous hero and/or traitor in recent American history,鈥� Edward Snowden.

And with the interview, Mr. Oliver, with an even more aggressively lewd and profane brand of HBO-permitted humor, once again upped the ante for the liberal-leaning comedy genre. He has transformed traditional satire and news parody into what some are calling some of the most effective civic journalism on television today.

鈥淗e鈥檚 trying to make abstruse policy relatable in a way that closes the loop for citizens to participate actively in the process,鈥� says Aram Sinnreich, professor at Rutgers University鈥檚 School of Communication and Information in New Brunswick, N.J. 鈥淎nd he did it in a way that was rigorous, nonsensationalistic, and surprisingly nuanced.鈥�

Indeed, many credited the British-born comedian with changing the national debate over net neutrality听last year, introducing 鈥淭itle II鈥� of the hoary Federal Communications Act to many viewers and causing millions of them to inundate the Federal Communications Commission with pro-net neutrality comments. The agency eventually decided to regulate the Internet as a utility 鈥� under said 鈥淭itle II鈥� 鈥� a move few ever thought politically feasible.

It鈥檚 been nearly two years since Mr. Snowden, the exiled former National Security Agency contractor听now living in Russia, infamously leaked top-secret government documents, exposing the stunning scope of the American government鈥檚 massive domestic surveillance operations, authorized by the post-9/11 USA Patriot Act in 2001. He faces espionage charges in the United States.

And this time, Oliver has reintroduced 鈥淪ection 215鈥� of the Patriot Act, the part of the law that has given the federal government a virtual carte blanche to spy on US citizens and is set to expire on June 1.听

鈥淩efresh your memory: Section 215, which I鈥檓 aware sounds like an eastern European boy band,鈥� Oliver said during Sunday鈥檚 telecast. Then, with a Slavic-tinged accent: 鈥� 鈥榃e are Section 215; prepare to have your hearts throbbed.鈥� There鈥檚 the cute one, the bad boy, the one who strangled a potato farmer, and the one without an iron deficiency. They鈥檙e incredible!鈥�

Yet jokes decidedly not aside, Oliver has brought a civic earnestness and unabashed advocacy to the news that his staff researches thoroughly, observers note. 听听

鈥淎 lot of people have been critical ... that the younger generation gets its news this way, and that they don鈥檛 know the difference between comedy and the news,鈥� says Paul Levinson, media critic and professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University in New York. 鈥淏ut I always thought the criticism itself was nonsense, because whoever was getting their news that way was getting real news.鈥�

鈥淛ohn Oliver鈥檚 interview with Edward Snowden is the perfect example,鈥� he continues. 鈥淪o, yeah, he throws in Hot Pocket jokes and some other references 鈥� obviously, that鈥檚 meant to be funny 鈥� but that in no way wipes out the real news content.鈥�

Oliver doesn鈥檛 simply lampoon what he sees as the absurdities of American journalism 鈥� as he did with a clip from MSNBC鈥檚 鈥淎ndrea Mitchell Reports,鈥� when the anchor abruptly cut off a former congresswoman discussing the perils of Section 215 to announce the 鈥渂reaking news鈥� of the arrest of Justin Bieber 鈥� he urges his viewers to get informed.

Citing a Pew study that indicates that nearly half of Americans are not concerned with government surveillance 鈥� 鈥渨hich is fine, if that鈥檚 an informed opinion, but I鈥檓 not sure that it is鈥� 鈥� Oliver laments that 鈥渢he public debate so far has been absolutely pathetic.鈥�

In fact, most of the persons-on-the-street interviewed for this segment had little or no idea who Snowden was or what concerns drove him.听

鈥淗ere鈥檚 the big problem here: If we let Section 215 get renewed in its current form without serious public debate, we鈥檙e in trouble, because Section 215 is the canary in the coal mine,鈥� he told his viewers. 听

In the interview with Snowden, Oliver used the same kind of Swiftian satire and humor he honed as an alum of 鈥淭he Daily Show鈥� in face-to-face interviews.

鈥淥liver鈥檚 coup de grace, though, was how he got Snowden himself to explain the social consequences of government surveillance, and to explain all of the different aspects of this program, by using the conceit of 鈥淸naked] pics.鈥�

Joking about how many Americans text and e-mail lewd pictures of themselves, Oliver asked Snowden if people should be worried about the government sifting through such private photos.

鈥淭he good news is there's no program named 'the [naked] pic program,' 鈥� Snowden said. 鈥淭he bad news is they're still collecting everybody's information 鈥� including your [naked] pics.鈥�

鈥淪pies are great when they're on our side, but you can never forget that they are incredibly powerful and incredibly dangerous,鈥� the former CIA technician also cautioned. 鈥淎nd if they're off the leash, they can end up coming after us.鈥�

Will Oliver鈥檚 interview with Snowden get his viewers as motivated as they seemed to get after his bit on net neutrality?听

鈥淯nfortunately, there鈥檚 not a way to gauge his success as easily in this case 鈥� e.g. letters to the FCC 鈥� as it was with net neutrality,鈥� says Mr. Sinnreich. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like the NSA is welcoming citizen comments on its policies.鈥�

But the men-on-the-street featured in Oliver's segment did appear to take notice when asked about the prospect of US intelligence agencies repurposing their private(s) pix.听