News Reporter: Act Four: What obligations do late-night hosts have during an election?

Wednesday, 19 October 2016

Act Four: What obligations do late-night hosts have during an election?

Alyssa Rosenberg on culture and politics

Donald Trump appears on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon. (Handout via Reuters )

Every week, I answer a question from the Monday Act Four chat in the Wednesday edition of this newsletter. You can read the transcript of the October 17 chat here, and submit questions for the October 24 chat here. This week, a reader asks me to weigh in on a certain intersection of the entertainment and political industries.

Entertainment shows, especially late night have played an important part in this election. While politicians avoid sitting down with a journalist that will interrogate them, ask follow up questions and examine their knowledge of the issues they do want to be on TV and be likable so these shows are the perfect solution for them. So, don’t hosts now have a responsibility to use the fact that politicians make themselves available to ask important questions instead of allowing people like Donald Trump to be on TV without fearing that his ignorance on many issues will be exposed? I bet Trump couldn’t ask basic questions about policy, laws and bills.

For the sake of argument, I’m going to assume that this question is inspired by Donald Trump’s appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” after Fallon was widely pilloried for not pushing Trump on his positions and statements. It’s worth noting that such gentle treatment was probably part of the agreement that got Trump on the show in the first place, so if we want to litigate this, it’s perhaps worth discussing whether Fallon should have invited Trump to “The Tonight Show” at all.

But more broadly, I have hugely mixed feelings about this. While it’s true that late-night is increasingly populated by shows with sharp political perspectives, not all hosts have the same political instincts that have made John Oliver and Samantha Bee famous. Fallon’s brand is sweet, goofy and game-oriented rather than political, which is not to say he lacks duties as a citizen with a very large platform.

Still, performers in his position are in something of a rough spot. If they break with form to interrogate a politician on air, they may not get other politicians to appear in the future. If they ask tough questions but lack the background knowledge to call out lies to ask smart follow-ups, they may get tarred as dupes. And if they stick to form, they risk being charged with giving a pass to someone who advocates wildly extreme ideas. The only way for Fallon to win would have been not to play.