Late-night television talk shows and political comedy programs: A study of young voters' political experiences.

Abstract

The information processing strategy active reflection was also examined to determine the mediation relationship between exposure and attention to late night television talk shows and political comedy programs and the outcome variables general political knowledge, candidate personal knowledge, civic participation, and political participation. The results did not support that the hypothesis that active reflection mediated the relationship between late night television talk shows and political comedy programs and the outcome variables general political knowledge, candidate personal knowledge, civic participation, and political participation.

The associations between exposure and attention to late night television talk shows and political comedy programs and the outcome variables general political knowledge, candidate personal knowledge, civic participation, political participation, political discussion, and political cynicism were investigated. The results indicated that late night television talk shows had a positive and significant association with candidate personal knowledge, while political comedy programs had a positive and significant association with general political knowledge and candidate personal knowledge. Neither late night television talk shows nor political comedy programs significantly contributed to civic participation or political participation. Political comedy programs had a significant and positive impact on political discussions. Political comedy programs also contributed significantly to political cynicism.