"News Comedy" shows and Media Criticism: Influence of "The Colbert Report" on Viewers' Interpretations of Media Credibility

Abstract

This study focused on the effect of news comedy shows on viewers' interpretation of media credibility. Specifically, I examined the influence of The Colbert Report and Stephen Colbert's media criticism of Cable TV news in particular, such as CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. To first determine Stephen Colbert's portrayal of media, I performed a content analysis on 32 episodes of his news comedy show, coding the news medium and its portrayal and use. The results found that television was portrayed most negatively and used as a joke more frequently than any other news media. I then conducted a survey which sought to answer if viewers were affected by this negative portrayal. The survey asked respondents (ages 18-29) questions about TV watching habits and views of credibility of various news media outlets. There were no significant findings regarding the relationship between the portrayal of cable TV news on The Colbert Report and viewers' perceptions of media credibility of those cable TV outlets. However, post-hoc analysis did reveal further possible research on this topic.