News satire engagement as a transgressive space for genre work

Abstract

News satire plays with the political in ways that transgress journalistic as well as social and moral boundaries. But the ways in which audiences in different contexts engage with news satire are under-researched, despite the implications of the genre’s role for contemporary citizenship. This article asks how Swedish young adult audiences construct and negotiate news satire’s inherent transgressions, spanning across the ‘serious’ and ‘silly’. Based on interview and focus group data, the analysis shows how sustained news satire engagement entails genre work that aids the development of ‘transgression skills’. This process is stimulating, constructed as part of a complex and emotionally authentic mode of political communication, within a context where journalistic certainty has dominated. By achieving transgression skills, audiences are symbolically put on the same level as political elites and develop abilities to shift perspectives; thereby experiencing a deeper engagement with, and understanding of, political issues and performance.