Comedy and Social Change: The Effects of Satire and News on Persuasion About Syrian Refugees

• In Event: Issues in Political Communication

Abstract

Using a pretest-posttest and delayed re-contact experimental design with a national sample, this study examines shifts in U.S. public attitudes about Syrian refugees after watching a topical satirical news segment on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, compared with a CNN news segment. To investigate synergistic effects between satire and news, the design varied whether the news and comedy segments were viewed alone or in sequence (news before comedy or comedy before news). The results show that all four treatments (news-only, comedy-only, news-comedy, comedy-news) significantly increased support for refugees from pre-test to post-test, and these effects were maintained after a two-week delay. However, the effects were significantly greater in the three comedy conditions relative to news-only. Finally, a serial mediation analysis demonstrated that perceived entertainment value is a positive mediator of comedy’s persuasive effects and serves as a buffer against negative indirect effects through message discounting and argument quality.

Authors

• Lauren Feldman, Rutgers U

• Caty Borum Chattoo, American U School of Communication