Laughter, Learning, or Enlightenment? Viewing and Avoidance Motivations Behind The Daily Show and The Colbert Report

Abstract

This project integrates a uses and gratifications perspective into the study of political satire, to explore the reasons why young people prefer (or avoid) political satire programming, and to understand how viewing and avoidance motivations relate to political and psychological constructs. Results indicate that respondents who prefer political satire report watching for the humor, to learn about current events, because they see it as unbiased, to make news fun, and to contextualize the news. Analyses also reveal significant differences in the demographic and psychological profiles of respondents who watch (and avoid) political satire for different reasons.

Notes

Note. ***p < .001

**p < .01

*p < .05

#p < .1.

¹GLM results indicate significant overall effects of efficacy (p < .08).

²A more conservative set of tests, GLM, was also run. GLM analysis indicates significant overall effects on the set of dependent variables (all six viewing motivations) for both gender (Wilks' Lambda = .96, F(7, 372) = 2.53, p < .02), and NFC (Wilks' Lambda = .96, 2.06, p < .05).