The Daily Show Effect

• DOI: 10.1177/1532673X05280074
• Author: Jody Baumgartner,Jonathan S. Morris
• Date: 01 May 2006
• Published date: 01 May 2006
• Subject Matter: Articles

10.1177/1532673X05280074American Politics ResearchBaumgartner, Morris /The Daily Show Effect

The Daily Show Effect

Candidate Evaluations,

Efficacy, and American Youth

Jody Baumgartner

Jonathan S. Morris

East Carolina University

We test the effects of a popular televised source of political humor for young

Americans: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. We find that participants

exposed to jokes about George W. Bush and John Kerry on The Daily Show

tended to rate both candidates more negatively,even when controlling for par-

tisanship and other demographic variables. Moreover, we find that viewers

exhibit more cynicism towardthe electoral system and the news media at large.

Despite these negative reactions, viewers of The Daily Show reported

increased confidence in their ability to understand the complicated world of

politics. Our findings are significant in the burgeoning field of research on the

effects of “soft news” on the American public. Although research indicates

that soft newscontributes to democratic citizenship in America by reaching out

to the inattentive public, our findings indicate that The Daily Show may have

more detrimental effects, driving down support for political institutions and

leaders among those already inclined toward nonparticipation.

Keywords: media and politics; political campaigns; The Daily Show;

infotainment; political information; young voters; political

socialization

Introduction:

Soft News and The Daily Show

There is some ambiguity among political communications scholars in

defining soft news (Baum, 2003b; Hamilton, 2004; Patterson, 2000), but

there is a consensus that soft-news programming shares certain characteris-

tics. Compared with traditional hard news, these programs feature lower lev-

els of public affairs information and focus more on drama, sensationalism,

human interest themes, and personalities (Baum, 2002, 2003b; Patterson,

2000). Although most modern traditional news programs possess both hard

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May 2006 341-367

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and soft elements, the distinction is that soft-news programming is found in

the latter’s emphasis on entertainment.

Soft news includes several types of programs: network and cable news-

magazine shows, entertainment and tabloid newsmagazine shows, and day-

time and late-night talk shows (Baum, 2003b). Although daytime talk shows

(e.g., The Oprah WinfreyShow,Dr.Phil) tend to take more of a human inter-

est approach to entertainment, late-night talk shows (e.g., The Tonight Show

With Jay Leno,The Late Show With David Letterman), especially in the

monologue segments of the programs, are more humor oriented. The Daily

Show With Jon Stewart fits into this subcategory (Baum, 2003b, p. 119).

As soft-news programming has become more prevalent, scholars have

begun to examine how it influences the public. Many have argued that soft

news threatens the integrity of the democratic process by overemphasizing

trivial events, downplaying significant public affairsissues, and oversimpli-

fying the complex reality of these issues (Fallows, 1996; Kalb, 2001;

Patterson, 2000). For instance, Hollander (1995) found that exposure to

entertainment-based talk programs artificially inflated viewers’ perceptions

of their own political knowledge. However, recent research by Baum (2002,

2003a, 2003b, 2005) has challenged this notion. He argues that soft news cre-

ates a more knowledgeable citizenry by educating an inattentive public that

would not otherwise follow traditional hard news. Hisresearch indicates that

politically inattentive citizens gather valuable information as an “incidental

by-product” of exposure to soft news, especially regarding significant for-

eign policy events (Baum, 2003b, p. 30). Thus, watching entertainment-

based programming can contribute to political learning.

Baum (2005) also demonstrated that exposure to presidential candidates’

appearances on entertainment-based talk shows in the 2000 campaign influ-

enced the evaluation of those candidates, particularly among less knowl-

edgeable viewers. His findings illustrate that those who are only passively

interested in politics are more likely to warm up to presidential candidates

from the opposition party when they see those candidates on entertainment-

based talk shows. This is because soft-news programs, particularly entertain-

ment talk shows, have less of an “edge” than hard news. When hosts speak to

presidential candidates, difficult questions regarding policy and political

strategy give way to friendly small talk and entertaining anecdotes. For

instance, when George W. Bush appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show,he

and Ms. Winfrey discussed the birth of his daughters, his favorite food, and

other friendly topics. Candidates see these appearances as an excellent

opportunity to showcase their personalities to less engaged and more impres-

sionable citizens (Baum, 2005; Davis & Owen, 1998). In 2003 and 2004, a

number of presidential hopefuls appeared on Jon Stewart’sThe Daily Show.

342 American Politics Research