John Wihbey in News@Northeastern: Jagshemash! Is Borat a New Undercover Journalist?
by John Wihbey
John Wihbey, assistant professor of journalism and media innovation at Northeastern, says Cohen has created his own category.
“It’s tough to invent a new term for him, but I think he’s a ‘newsworthiness entrepreneur,’” Wihbey says of Cohen. “He understands that getting people like Rudy Giuliani in absurd, disgusting, compromising situations is going to be massively newsworthy. And so he’s different from other satirical news producers and artists.”
Wihbey views Borat, a fictional journalist from Kazakhstan, as the descendant of a line of satirists who have been blending news and entertainment for decade.