Cynicism: Apathy or Increased Efficacy?

Our findings reveal the complicated nature of our research question, shedding light on both the benefits and consequences of satirical news programming, as well as the controversial role that cynicism plays in this discourse.

Because The Daily Show and other satirical news programs make political information accessible by presenting it in a humorous, often negative, context, they have been criticized for allegedly increasing cynicism and decreasing political participation in younger viewers. However, some research has shown that although there has been an increase in cynicism among youth, voting rates in this age group went up in 2004. In one study, high school students reported an increased sense of internal efficacy because of the easy-to-understand way in which information is presented on The Daily Show and others of its kind. This in turn may lead to an increase in both interest and participation in the political arena. Interestingly, some argue that a dose of cynicism may also lead to this increase in external efficacy by “contribut[ing] to an actively critical orientation toward politics...[which] may translate into better citizenship” (Baumgartner & Morris, 2006, p. 362)*.



*Baumgartner, J. & Morris, J. (2006). The Daily Show effect: Candidate evaluations, efficacy, and American youth. American Politics Research, 34, 341-367.

Read it here.

Our Goals

We are interested in studying the effects of "fake news" programs such as The Daily Show or The Colbert Report on American youth. Though this topic is fairly new, and there are still a lot of questions to be answered, we think this is important to examine because satirical news has become the main source of information for many Americans 18-24 years of age. We aim to discover the ways in which such programs affect internal political efficacy, or confidence in one's ability to understand and participate in politics, and attitudes towards the American democratic system as a whole. To do this, we will examine the actual content and format of fake news shows as well as studies and experiments that have been conducted in recent years.