Climate as Comedy

Abstract

Two satirical television news programs, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, cover climate change in ways that affirm the existence of global warming. This study uses data from an experiment ( N = 424) to test whether exposure to these programs’ coverage can influence viewers’ certainty that global warming is happening. It also examines whether viewers’ political beliefs predict their interpretations of the programs’ messages about climate change, whether such interpretations are related to viewers’ climate change perceptions, and whether the effects of the programs vary depending on viewers’ political beliefs.