The role of political satirical TV programs during political crises

Abstract

Satire is a technique that laughs at particular people or objects in order to point out problems in an attempt to bring about change. Politicians, social structures and narrow-minded or biased public opinions and systems are the most common targets of satirical compositions. Satinsts (people who compose satire) often use techniques such as irony, exaggeration, sarcasm (Antonyms), metaphors and sketches in order to ridicule their subjects. The paper focuses on Bassem Youssef’s show Al Bernameg (The Program), which regularly criticizes public figures. It has become a Sensation after it was launched online in the aftermath of Egypt’s revolution. Political humor excited the protests in gaining new momentum, with a new generation of satirists using comedy to speak truth to power. Bassem Youssef used the clips to create a mock Arabic newscast posted on YouTube, homage to Comedy Central’s Daily of Jon Stew- art. Al Bernameg of Bassem Youssef is similar to The Daily Show of Jon Stewart in merging entertainment with news. It is notably news satire format and the talk show format. This paper tries to answer many questions: whether this political satirical talk show will help flourish a new genre in Egyptian media, And what exactly is the political content of the program, Many theories as critical discourse analysis approach of Fairclough (2003), Grice’s conversation maxims (1975), and Entman’s framing of media effects (2004) are used in the satirical analysis of the texts of “Al Bernameg”.