Comedy isn’t supposed to be taken literally. By nature it’s a subjective art form of mockery, satire, and absurdity. Comedy’s strength lies in its ability to provide a humorous look at the boredom of monotony, the strains of everyday life, or the pain of tragedy. It exists to poke fun at reality, not to establish it.

News on the other hand is all about reality. It is the reporting of recent events or information to the public. Historically, the news media has been an established platform trusted with disseminating this information as accurately, efficiently, and widely as possible. Those working in the field of news media should be motivated from a desire to inform, not to perform.

Obviously, humor and news aren’t the same thing.

The big question is, who decides what gets reported as news? Well, increasingly the mainstream media has been looking to … comedians. And this is particularly so when it comes to interpreting recent political events. The Washington Post’s Tuesday morning headline read, “Late-night hosts skewer Trump.” As Investor’s Business Daily notes, “How is this news exactly? That same headline could literally have run any day of the week for the past two years. It is so predictable that it doesn’t even rate as a ‘Dog Bites Man’ story, but more like a ‘The Sun Rose in the East Today’ story.”

But it became a trend. ABC News noted that “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert called President Donald Trump’s summit with Vladimir Putin “treason.” The NBC News headline read, “Helsinki has frozen over: Late night hosts mock Trump-Putin summit.” Google News’ Tuesday morning headline was another reference to Colbert and his question on “what Putin had on Trump.” The Daily Beast tapped another infamous late-night host with its headline: “Jimmy Kimmel: Pee tape exists beyond a treasonable doubt.” (Har, har — “treasonable.”) CNN’s piece read “Late night blasts Trump-Putin summit.” Who knew these comedians were also news analysts? Clearly, much of the MSM views them as such.

The real reason for giving these faux-analysts such prominent billing is two-fold. First, it sells, as performing is always more entertaining than merely informing. Second, and most significantly, Trump Derangement Syndrome. Investor’s Business Daily astutely notes, “Playing up comics’ monologues as news is just another way for these journalists to keep the negative coverage flowing.” It’s a concerted effort to convince the American public that everyone who is anyone is opposed to Trump, so jump on the bandwagon and laugh along.