The Impact of Political Comedy Shows
Since entertainment media has become such an unavoidable element in everyone's life, political candidates have learned to follow this trend. Putting themselves in the limelight allows candidates to advertise themselves and spread their views and goals to a large portion of society. Being on popular late night shows also makes candidates seem more relatable involved with the people. Through TV shows, candidates can reach a wide spectrum of society since the younger and older generations both generally like to watch such types of shows since they are humorous and satirical.
2. In what ways do viewers of political comedy shows benefit?
Such shows are ways to easily be informed about current events and get involved in political debate since they are humorous while being informative. Viewers gain confidence in their assessment of current politics, making them more willing to participate.
3. How can political comedy shows impact the way that voters evaluate candidates?
Political comedy leaves a greater impression on viewers than traditional news does because it uses elements of satire like humor, over exaggeration, and sometimes, distortion to instill a certain point of view into the viewers. Voters will thus mainly remember the characteristics of the candidates that have been highlighted by these shows.
4. What is the likely impact of late night TV coverage of the Trump campaign on voters?
With John Oliver's "Donald Drumpf" segment as the most famous, many TV shows have highlighted Trump's ugly characteristics including deceitfulness and unreliability. Ubiquitous negative media coverage of Trump has made him a joke to most viewers, so hopefully, voters will think it ridiculous to consider voting for Trump.
5. How does late night political comedy cause viewers to seek out news from other sources?
In order to understand the jokes and satire made in political comedy shows, viewers need to first know the news or event or situation behind the joke. They must turn to traditional news sources so that they can enjoy the late night show.
6. According to this 2015 report, what percentage of people claimed to get their news from "The Daily Show"?
Twelve percent of online Americans get their news from "The Daily Show."
7. In what ways are viewers of political comedy shows different from the general population?
Viewers mainly consist of the younger generation and the liberals in society.
8. What is the main reason viewers watch these shows? What secondary benefits do they receive?
Most viewers, around 43%, watch "The Daily Show" for entertainment rather than for in-depth reporting on current events. The second most popular reason (24%) people watch the show is to get to know the different views and opinions.
9. How are the viewing patterns of people who watch these shows different from other news sources?
The people who view the digital-form of "The Daily Show" do so more consistently and longer, while those that read typical news sources such as CNN visit the online sites sporadically.
