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Late-Night Comedy as a Gateway to Traditional News: An Analysis of Time Trends in News Attention among Late-Night Comedy Viewers during the 2004 Presidential Primaries
Unformatted Document Text:  Comedy as a Gateway Page 3 Late-Night Comedy as a Gateway to Traditional News: An Analysis of Time Trends in News Attention among Late-Night Comedy Viewers during the 2004 Presidential Primaries Over the past decade, journalists and academics have started to embrace the notion that entertainment-oriented programming and texts might play important roles in the political environment. From opinion change and voter turnout to knowledge, salience, and cynicism, scholars are studying how shows like the West Wing, NYPD Blue, Saturday Night Live, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart are shaping modern politics (Holbert et. al, 2003; Holbrook and Hill, 2006; Young, 2004, forthcoming; Baumgartner and Morris, 2006). Scholars are finding that just as traditional news programs can persuade, teach, prime, frame, and alter political efficacy and trust, so too can entertainment programs. While entertainment shows are not created with the intention of fostering political outcomes, these subtle latent effects have been demonstrated repeatedly. One form of entertainment programming that has received significant attention from media effects scholars over the past several years is late-night comedy. Both for their occasional interviews with political guests, and for the political content of their opening monologues, programs such as those hosted by Jay Leno and David Letterman are being examined by political communication researchers to assess their impact on political attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors. For example, in their research on how candidate perceptions are shaped by various types of media exposure, Pfau, Cho, and Chong (2001) found ratings of Al Gore to be higher among late-night comedy viewers. Moy, Xenos, and Hess (2005) found that viewers of late- night comedy programs rated Bush more heavily on the criteria of “cares about people like me” during a time period that included Bush’s interview with David Letterman—results that appear consistent with a priming effect. And, in studies of both the 2000 and 2004 elections, Young (2004, forthcoming) has demonstrated that late-night comedy’s impact on attitudes towards the

Authors: Feldman, Lauren. and Young, Danna.
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background image
Comedy as a Gateway
Page 3
Late-Night Comedy as a Gateway to Traditional News:
An Analysis of Time Trends in News Attention among Late-Night Comedy Viewers during
the 2004 Presidential Primaries
Over the past decade, journalists and academics have started to embrace the notion that
entertainment-oriented programming and texts might play important roles in the political
environment. From opinion change and voter turnout to knowledge, salience, and cynicism,
scholars are studying how shows like the West Wing, NYPD Blue, Saturday Night Live, and The
Daily Show with Jon Stewart are shaping modern politics (Holbert et. al, 2003; Holbrook and
Hill, 2006; Young, 2004, forthcoming; Baumgartner and Morris, 2006). Scholars are finding
that just as traditional news programs can persuade, teach, prime, frame, and alter political
efficacy and trust, so too can entertainment programs. While entertainment shows are not
created with the intention of fostering political outcomes, these subtle latent effects have been
demonstrated repeatedly.
One form of entertainment programming that has received significant attention from
media effects scholars over the past several years is late-night comedy. Both for their occasional
interviews with political guests, and for the political content of their opening monologues,
programs such as those hosted by Jay Leno and David Letterman are being examined by political
communication researchers to assess their impact on political attitudes, knowledge, and
behaviors. For example, in their research on how candidate perceptions are shaped by various
types of media exposure, Pfau, Cho, and Chong (2001) found ratings of Al Gore to be higher
among late-night comedy viewers. Moy, Xenos, and Hess (2005) found that viewers of late-
night comedy programs rated Bush more heavily on the criteria of “cares about people like me”
during a time period that included Bush’s interview with David Letterman—results that appear
consistent with a priming effect. And, in studies of both the 2000 and 2004 elections, Young
(2004, forthcoming) has demonstrated that late-night comedy’s impact on attitudes towards the


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