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

Abstract

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.