Moments of Zen: Effects of The Daily Show on Information Seeking and Political Learning

A growing number of scholars continue to investigate relationships between exposure and attention to political comedy programs like The Daily Show and political knowledge. One prominent explanation for these relationships suggests that exposure to such programs facilitates the acquisition of political information from hard news sources, particularly among less politically sophisticated comedy viewers, thus serving as a gateway to political attention and knowledge. Previous studies have provided support for this explanation largely through cross-sectional survey data focused on learning from traditional hard news outlets such as television news. This research draws on data from two experimental studies conducted with undergraduates at a major midwestern university to provide a more direct causal investigation of these processes and also expands the scope of hard news media considered to include online sources. Our findings provide general support for the gateway hypothesis but raise important questions concerning the causal structure of gateway effects.