The Influence of Late- Night TV Comedy Viewing on Political Talk: A Moderated- Mediation Model

This study is focused on the influence of late-night TV comedy viewing on political talk. It is posited that debate viewing serves as a mediator of this relationship, and age is argued to be a moderator of the association between late-night TV comedy viewing and debate viewing. More specific to age, it is hypothesized that the predictive value of late-night TV comedy for political debate consumption will be greater for those audience members who are younger. A secondary analysis of 2004 national Annenberg debate panel data provides evidence of a positive indirect effect of late-night TV comedy viewing on political talk through debate viewing, and the moderator of age functioned as predicted. Thus, this study details a series of positive unintended consequences of late-night TV comedy viewing on what are defined normatively as positive democratic communicative activities (i.e., debate viewing, political discussion), and these media effects are stronger the younger the voter. Keywords entertainment media, late-night TV comedy, debate viewing, political discussion Political theorists from Aristotle to James Bryce to Jürgen Habermas have argued that rational political discourse is essential for a healthy, well-functioning democrac