Exasperated fans of Jon Stewart's Daily Show discovered that the latest "Global Edition" could not be broadcast in the UK because he was poking fun at events inside the House of Commons.
If you are already confused about what is satire and what is reality, it turns out that it is forbidden for UK broadcasters to show any footage of the Commons or Lords or indeed of any parliamentary committee in a way that might encourage us to laugh at it. Now I feel terrible for smirking slightly when the news showed that bloke trying to put a foam pie in Rupert Murdoch's face and then being attacked by Wendi Deng.
"No extracts from parliamentary proceedings may be used in comedy shows or other light entertainment such as political satire," says the bizarre and anachronistic clause that dates back to the protracted negotiations when broadcasters were trying to get the cameras admitted.
Apparently, the politicians were worried that they might be made to look ridiculous. That's the hundreds of MPs who jeer and cajole and feign laughter at weak jokes and jump up and down trying to get the Speaker's attention – they were worried that a comedy show might take this footage and somehow might make them look undignified.
I have written Spitting Image sketches set in a replica House of Commons; I once spent a week sitting in the press gallery in order to write satirical accounts of each day's proceedings; I have even written jokes for Labour ministers to use from the frontbench. This is all within the rules. What is not allowed is using actual footage from the Palace of Westminster to have a laugh at what goes on there, even though in the case of Jon Stewart, he was actually praising the British political system, just making a couple of gentle quips about it along the way.
If it was just a question of showing disrespect, then surely parliamentary footage should not be used by Newsnight, unless they were prepared to keep cutting away to Jeremy Paxman nodding reverentially before declaring: "Well, thank God we have 650 honest, and trustworthy public servants there in Westminster making sure our best interests are always served." No, he can be as rude as he wants because he is not on a comedy show. What I love is the idea that comedy or satire alone might have some secret power to shatter the nation's deeply held respect for our politicians.
All that security at Westminster; the armed police and the crash barriers, that's not to stop terrorists. They're worried that Ian Hislop might get in and start being ironic. This is patently ridiculous and More4 should have ignored this arcane code and defied the Palace of Westminster to take action in defence of the undemocratic ban. The channel could have asserted that Jon Stewart's show is a current affairs show so that the context did not apply.
They could have tried arguing that the rules don't extend to foreign shows. Or they could have said that with politicians being caught fiddling their expenses and lying to Parliament, and even being sent to prison for fraud, that the whole place went way beyond satire many years ago.
Not poke fun at Parliament? That's a laugh | John O'Farrell | Comment is free | The Observer
Not poke fun at Parliament? That's a laugh
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