For political comedy, try a little humor

Charles Sherman
scripto1@yahoo.com

1983 Nieman fellow; editor-in-chief, Joong-ang Daily News, Seoul

To all who may consider this:

Why not encourage U.S. reporters to inject humor, at the least – and perhaps even partisan, though not personal, sarcasm – into reporting in some way? Humor as an incentive for readers is badly lacking in the mainstream press. Maureen Dowd, Art Buchwald and the cartoonists can't do it alone.

You need but check the blogs to see the effectiveness and attractiveness of this to readers. People want feeling along with sound and highly refined information. You cannot substitute emotion or humor for information, but you can give the facts some zap. Good headline writers try to do this. Readers are aching for a less bloodless approach to political coverage. Use weapons of ass destruction on worthy targets.   

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