Comedy and Politics – The Daily Show’s influence on public opinion: framing and criticism in the 2004 and 2008 general elections
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2018-06-15
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en
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Satirical News is popular: What started with The Daily Show in 1993 has evolved into a plethora of shows, including The Colbert Report, Last Week Tonight, and others. These shows have millions of viewers in the coveted 18-35 demographic. As such, these shows have significant influence in U.S. politics by forming public opinion. The way in which politicians are framed and their actions are criticized has an effect on the audience’s opinion of politicians. This thesis focusses on the representation of Democratic and Republican presidential candidates in order to examine if The Daily Show frames these candidates differently. A concise satirical background is established and related to the postmodern television medium. The close textual analysis of several salient fragments of The Daily Show serves to examine the way politicians running for the office of President of the United States are framed based on their affiliation. Framing and criticism can be observed to have become more polarizing when comparing the 2004 and 2008 elections.
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Faculteit der Letteren