The Impact of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report on Public Attentiveness to Science and the Environment
32 Pages Posted: 20 Jan 2020
Date Written: May 11, 2011
Abstract
Prior research on the political effects of late-night comedy programs has demonstrated that by piggy-backing political content on entertainment fare, such programs provide a, "gateway," to increased audience attention to news and public affairs, particularly among less politically engaged audiences. Given the heightened coverage of science and environmental topics on Comedy Central’s satirical news programs, "The Daily Show," and, "The Colbert Report," this paper considers whether a similar process could be at work relative to public attention to science and the environment. An analysis of nationally representative survey data finds that audience exposure to, "The Daily Show," and, "The Colbert Report," goes hand-in-hand with attention paid to science and environmental issues, specifically global warming. Moreover, the relationship between satirical news use and attentiveness is most pronounced among those with the least amount of formal education, who might otherwise lack the resources and motivation to pay attention to scientific and environmental issues. In this way, satirical news is an attention equalizer, reducing traditional gaps in attentiveness between those with low and high levels of education.
Keywords: climate change, media effects, environment
JEL Classification: D80
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
Making the Most Of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation
By Gary King, Michael Tomz, ...
-
Logistic Regression in Rare Events Data
By Gary King and Langche Zeng
-
A Statistical Model for Multiparty Electoral Data
By Jonathan N. Katz and Gary King
-
Explaining Rare Events in International Relations
By Gary King and Langche Zeng
-
Improving Quantitative Studies of International Conflict: A Conjecture
By Nathaniel Beck, Gary King, ...
-
Improving Forecasts of State Failure
By Gary King and Langche Zeng
-
Estimating Risk and Rate Levels, Ratios, and Differences in Case-Control Studies
By Gary King and Langche Zeng
-
By Gary King and Christopher Murray
-
Proper Nouns and Methodological Propriety: Pooling Dyads in International Relations Data
By Gary King