Nontraditional News Negativity: The Relationship of Entertaining Political News Use to Political Cynicism and Mistrust

Although past research suggested that entertainment viewing may weaken political trust, only a few studies have investigated this outcome for specific types of nontraditional news shows. This study examines the relationship between exposure to three forms of nontraditional news that merge entertainment with informational content-comedy talk shows, satirical news, and cable opinion news-and political mistrust and cynicism. Using data from a national survey (n = 777) conducted in the United States, findings indicate that viewing satirical news programs appeared to be related to systemic cynicism, while exposure to all three shows was either directly or indirectly associated with distrust in politicians. Mistrust in the news media, on the other hand, appeared for comedy talk shows and satirical news use only in particular contexts.