Are “Fake news” shows like John Stewart’s Daily Show, and the Colbert Report more effective in cutting thru climate denial than “real” news shows? We’ll never know, because the “real” news has never really tried. Now that both Stewart and Colbert are moving on, we can hope that they still weigh in on the issue from time to time, and that some of the newer talent coming along gets quickly up to speed in time for the upcoming election campaign.
Note: Viacom is maniacal about policing youtube, so I couldn’t post the exact clips mentioned, but you can see them embedded at the Medical Daily link.
For all you skeptics out there who believe satirical news programs are good for nothing but making viewers laugh, the joke’s on you, according to a new study from the University of Delaware. Researchers have found Comedy Central classics The Daily Show and The Colbert Report have the power to influence their viewers’ opinions on highly debated topics such as climate change. “These results dovetail with, while also extending, previous research showing that satirical television news can shape public opinion about other public affairs topics as well as attention to scientific and environmental issues, including climate change,” study authors Paul R. Brewer and Jessica McKnight wrote in their study. When it comes down to it, researchers believe that satirical television may have more clout over public opinion as a result of how they frame controversial topics. For example, news programs will often “balance” coverage by hosting guests with opposing views, which is to say if they’re discussing the overwhelming scientific evidence for climate change, they will invite experts to challenge this idea. “Thus, satirical television news coverage may offer counterpoints to climate change skepticism in public discourse and public opinion,” study authors explained. In other words, the satirical comedy is a little more blatant in stating their opinions. For their study, the researchers recruited 424 young adults and asked them to watch 1-minute clips from one of the following programs: Finding Bigfoot (a control), The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report. The first clip was from a 2013 episode of The Colbert Report where, in classic character fashion, former host Stephen Colbert used his conservative persona to mock anti-climate change perspectives by making them seem positively ridiculous. “Folks, last week President Obama cynically used the inaugural address to push his radical prosurvival agenda,” he says in the clip below. The rest of the clip features Colbert describing why we should just give up on trying to solve climate change, and instead, “crawl into bed with a cheesecake and wait for death.”
The second clip was from a 2011 episode of The Daily Show where Jon Stewart, in a more direct but still entertaining manner, describes how research funded by oil industry tycoons actually proved the existence of climate change. “Yes, the study funded by the Koch brothers confirms the original research was actually correct. The earth is getting warmer — or, judging by this graphic, getting more embarrassed,” he joked. The rest of the clip featured how disproving the 2009 scandal “Climategate” was overshadowed in the media by the reintroduction of McDonald’s McRib. – Researchers measured a half of point increase in certainty pertaining to climate change in those who saw the Colbert and Daily Show clips compared to those watching the control clip. Even more interesting was that this increased certainty was present among both liberals and conservatives. “The effects of the clips on certainty that global warming is happening did not vary across viewers’ political beliefs,” the researchers concluded. The study did find, however, that conservatives watching Colbert’s clip believed his satire to be actual climate change denial. The co-authors suggested that conservatives interpreted “his ambiguous messages in ways that reflected their own ideological orientations.” On the other hand, those with liberal affiliations understood (and appreciated) the irony of Colbert’s statements.
This confirms my observation that many conservatives lack both a sense of nuance (they see things in black and white terms), and a poor sense of humor, especially more subtle humor.
Well that was incorrectly worded 🙁 . Of course I meant they have a poor sense of humor. Proof read failure.
nevertheless, hilarious proof once again, that conservativism is rampant among the mentally and emotionally handicapped.
I wouldn’t call the Daily Show “fake news”; that’s The Onion.
What Stewart et al do is satirical news analysis.
So – this conveys a significant misunderstanding of the service Jon Stewart’s Daily Show provided. It was nowhere near being “fake news” as every piece of information was based on REAL news – with political, comedic commentary and satire. The ONION publishes fake news, for contrast – also sattire – but the form is completely different. Richard Engel said it best during MSNBC’s tribute — Richard said the news in the Middle East is difficult, complex, depressing — but Stewart had a way of explaining it to us with added humor — we tend to remember something more when we laugh while we are learning something – and that is the service Jon provided. Amen to that!
There is no doubt that fake news shows influence public opinion on issues like climate change.
The biggest fake news of them all – Fox News – has been doing it for years.
Yep, and that’s why so many of us refer to them as Faux News.