Nightly News or Nightly Jokes? News Parody as a Form of Political Communication: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

News parody as a genre of political satire has become an increasingly popular form of entertainment in the past two decades. Mirroring traditional news media in format and style has made this genre one that receives both praise and criticism. While some see it as a chance for a wider audience to become politically interested, others point to potentially negative effects such as increased political cynicism. While news parody as a form of political communication has been at the center of various studies, related research has been spread across a plethora of disciplines and sub-fields and some limitations and gaps in the literature remain substantially unexplored. This review article seeks to contribute to this research field by presenting a comprehensive overview of the existing literature and proposing new directions for the study of news parody as political communication.