# News Stories every week about SNL? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078 "2017-02-05T18:21:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/1 "2017-02-05T18:21:27Z")
Why does the media write stories almost every week telling me about SNL? I think most people are well aware they make fun of Trump every week. Why is that show considered news right up there with Congress, Russia, etc? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/2 "2017-02-05T18:33:37Z")
Because the media wishes they could bash Trump with the same enthusiasm, but knows they have to be more subtle about it. So they try to boost SNL, which has no such constraints. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/3 "2017-02-05T18:35:48Z")
that could be part of it. SNL always makes fun of the president so those skits are nothing new. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/4 "2017-02-05T18:39:55Z")
My guess is mainly because Trump has elevated its importance by so frequently tweeting about how bad the show is each time they’ve made fun of him and his supporting players. _That’s_ made it more than just fairly effective political satire (and this week’s was actually quite good) and into newsworthy. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/5 "2017-02-05T18:40:31Z")
And while Trump may be hard to satirize they still have a lot more to work with than they ever did with Obama. Clinton would’ve provided more material than Obama to. She also wouldn’t constantly drawing attention to SNL with her tweets. Trump’s basically giving the free advertising. Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/6 "2017-02-05T19:00:14Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Because the media wishes they could bash Trump with the same enthusiasm, but knows they have to be more subtle about it. So they try to boost SNL, which has no such constraints. I doubt it. I suspect it’s because the news sites have found that stories about SNL get page views. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/7 "2017-02-05T19:07:54Z")
I guess he thought it was a pretty good show when he agreed to host it a little over a year ago in Nov. of 2015 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/8 "2017-02-05T19:08:45Z")
This has been going on for some time. It’s not just about Trump. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/9 "2017-02-05T19:15:45Z")
Is it NBC news? It’s probably just free advertising. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/10 "2017-02-05T19:16:48Z")
No it’s all over the media including the NY Times today ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/11 "2017-02-05T19:29:07Z")
I think because there is a pretty good chance that the president of the United States might very well engage in a twitter war with SNL. It’s news, not because SNL makes fun of the president, but because this president, as opposed to every other president since the show started, can not help himself from reacting. SNL making fun of the president is not news, but the president reacting like a mad man is news. The stories about SNL are setting the stage for Trump’s unhinged reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/12 "2017-02-05T20:20:21Z")
It’s the Streisand effect. Trump himself has made it into news by his criticism of the show. SNL has made fun of every president since Ford, but none of them ever deigned to notice. It’s really beneath the dignity of the office. And politicians are supposed to be good sports when comedians make fun of them. (I recall when SNL had Guiliani on when he was mayor, playing a taxi driver who kept cursing out Guiliani.) Part of it too is that the actual news about the Trump administration seems like it’s an SNL skit. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/13 "2017-02-05T22:00:05Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > It’s the Streisand effect. I endorse this observation. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/14 "2017-02-05T22:33:09Z")
A similar question I have is why the news media so heavily cover every single press release, product launch, etc. from the Apple corporation. Oh boy, the new iPhone has 2% more pixels than the now-obsolete model from last year. There’s no need to give Apple so much free advertising. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/15 "2017-02-05T22:38:37Z")
Newspapers have been big users of Apple products since the first Mac came out. I assume the same is true for online news sites. WSJ tech guy thought Jobs was the 2nd coming of Jesus. Don’t know if TV and radio people are also big Apple fans but I suspect they are. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/16 "2017-02-05T23:15:16Z")
Seriously, you guys don’t remember seeing this prior to Trump? It was common on the Sunday talk shows to show a clip from SNL, if they had a good one. I remember when the ACA web site roll-out was all over the news and SNL did a hilarious skit about it. It was on every talk show that Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/17 "2017-02-06T00:58:16Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I doubt it. I suspect it’s because the news sites have found that stories about SNL get page views. Maybe it’s the cynic in me, but I would bet this is the main reason. Anti-Trumpers are desperate for news that validates their loathing of the orange beast, and these “stories” are right up that alley. Therefore they get liked and shared and tweeted about. Trump’s reactions do probably help give the stories legs, without which the media treatment of SNL satire would go back to the normal of before Trump. So it’s a little bit chicken-and-egg - Trump’s reactions make the stories click-bait, people click on them because they want to see Trump mocked, and that public reaction makes it more likely that Trump will comment on the next week’s show. And so it goes. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/18 "2017-02-06T01:23:43Z")
I disagree that all the media are constantly talking about _Saturday Night Live_. I read _The Washington Post_ every day. Nearly all the mentions of the show are found in the Style section, and even those mentions are mostly articles about particular actors who are regulars on the show. I don’t read _The New York Times_ regularly, but I find it hard to believe that it is constantly talking about the show either. I would say that any kind of media that finds it necessary to constantly talk about _Saturday Night Live_ isn’t a very serious source of news. Here are the archives giving all the mentions of the show in _The New York Times_ and the search results giving mentions of the show in _The Washington Post_ (since their recent archives aren’t available online: > **[Saturday Night Live](https://www.nytimes.com/topic/subject/saturday-night-live)** > > News about Saturday Night Live, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times. [https://www.google.com/search?q="Saturday+Night+Live"+"Washington+Post"&ei=tsyXWIPyFMHqjwSCzp14&start=10&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=652](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Saturday+Night+Live%22+%22Washington+Post%22&ei=tsyXWIPyFMHqjwSCzp14&start=10&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=652) ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/19 "2017-02-06T01:43:56Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > …Trump may be hard to satirize… I’m just gonna let this sit here… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078/20 "2017-02-06T04:17:41Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Anti-Trumpers are desperate for news that validates their loathing of the orange beast You’re so close, but this is the weak link in the chain. People aren’t desperate for that which is provided in abundance. The horrible stories are there already. What people are desperate for is the ability to laugh about it. SNL helps give catharsis with a sort of gallows humor. Taking that into account, the rest of what you say works. But I would add one more thing: this sort of news story where you report on what the satirists have said are already popular, and have been growing for years now. Similarly with stories about big events on popular TV shows. They may have been in less serious news sources, but they were there. And so the SNL articles already existed. Trump gave them lots of views with his antics, which the serious news sources covered. This created the self-feeding cycle. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-stories-every-week-about-snl/779078.md?page=2)