Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Public engagement with investigative journalism content is a challenging pursuit in the competitive digital era. As investigative journalism organizations innovate to engage the public, leveraging comedy may be worth considering, given comedy’s ability to attract attention and encourage public sharing. To explore this proposition, an investigative reporting collaborative project about toxic environmental contamination in New Jersey, Dirty Little Secrets, worked with stand-up comics to translate investigative news material into stand-up comedy routines performed in front of two live audiences. Through post-viewing surveys, this study found that the stand-up comedy show audiences learned factual information and perceived comedians as credible sources of environmental contamination information. In-depth interviews with one participating journalist and four participating stand-up comics reveal a positive collaborative experience.

Keywords

Audience/engagement comedy creativity engagement innovation investigative reporting local journalism social change social impact

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

About: Dirty Little Secrets (n.d.) Available at: https://toxicnj.com/about (accessed 28 March 2017).

Allen

(2014) Don’t forget, Thursday is test[icle]! The use of humour in sexuality education. Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning 14(4): 387–399.

Bas

Grabe

(2015) Emotion-provoking personalization of news: Informing citizens and closing the knowledge gap? Communication Research 42(2): 159–185.

Batsell

(2015) Engaged Journalism: Connecting with Digitally Empowered Audiences. New York: Columbia University Press.

Baum

(2003) Soft News Goes to War: Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy in the New Media Age. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Blanc

Brigaud

(2014) Humor in print health advertisements: Enhanced attention, privileged recognition, and persuasiveness of preventive messages. Health Communication 29: 669–677.

Borum Chattoo

Feldman

(2017) Storytelling for social change: Leveraging documentary and comedy for public engagement in global poverty. Journal of Communication 67: 678–701.

Brandel

(2015) Public-powered journalism. Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/we-are-hearken/public-powered-journalism-f4052ed9c412 (accessed 28 March 2017).

Carson

(1962) Silent spring: Part 1. The New Yorker, 16 June. Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1962/06/16/silent-spring-part-1

10.

Clark

(2015) How an investigative journalist helped prove a city was being poisoned with its own water. Columbia Journalism Review. Available at: http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/flint_water_lead_curt_guyette_aclu_michigan.php (accessed 28 March 2017).

11.

Coll

(2016) Finding new ways to follow the story. Columbia Journalism Review. Available at: http://www.cjr.org/analysis/innovation_newsrooms_tech_data.php (accessed 28 March 2017).

12.

Dirty Little Secrets (n.d.) Available at: https://toxicnj.com/ (accessed 29 March 2017).

13.

Feldman

Leiserowitz

Maibach

(2011) The science of satire: The daily show and The Colbert report as sources of public attention to science and the environment. In: Amarasingam

(ed.) The Stewart/Colbert Effect: Essays on the Real Impact of Fake News. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, pp. 25–46.

14.

Fraustino

(2015) CDC’s use of social media and humor in a risk campaign– ‘Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse’. Journal of Applied Communication 43: 222–241.

15.

Gentzkow

(2006). Television and voter turnout. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121(3), 931-972. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.121.3.931

16.

Goins

(2015a) How New Jersey newsrooms are working together to expose local contamination. Reveal News. Available at: https://www.revealnews.org/blog/how-new-jersey-newsrooms-are-working-together-to-expose-local-contamination/ (accessed 30 March 2017).

17.

Goins

(2015b) CIR to convene investigative collaboration in New Jersey. Reveal News. Available at: https://www.revealnews.org/press/cir-to-convene-investigative-collaboration-in-new-jersey/ (accessed 28 March 2017).

18.

Golden

(2012) Wasted places: Slow, underfunded EPA program falls short in toxic site cleanups. The Taproot 22(1): 15–21.

19.

Gonzalez

(2015) Dirty little secrets: New Jersey’s poorest live surrounded by contamination. WYNC. Available at: http://www.wnyc.org/story/nj-contaminated-sites/ (accessed 29 March 2017).

20.

Griswold

(2012) How ‘silent spring’ ignited the environmental movement. The New York Times. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/magazine/how-silent-spring-ignited-the-environmental-movement.html (accessed 29 March 2017).

21.

Groseclose

Milyo

(2005) A measure of media bias. Quarterly Journal of Economics 120(4): 1191–1237.

22.

Guyette

(2015) Lead astray: ACLU of Michigan investigation has found irregularities in Flint’s water tests. ACLU. Available at: http://www.aclumich.org/index.php/entry/lead-astray-an-aclu-of-michigan-investigation-has-found-a-stream-of-irregularities-in-flint-s-water-tests (accessed 30 March 2017).

23.

Hamilton

(2004) All the News That’s Fit to Sell: How the Market Transforms Information into News. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

24.

Hardman

(2015) Listening is a revolutionary act. Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/local-voices-global-change/listening-is-a-revolutionary-act-part-1-d48151d8ef08 (accessed 30 March 2017).

25.

Houston

(2010) The future of investigative journalism. Daedalus 139(2): 45–56.

26.

Jurkowitz

Mitchell

Matsa

, et al. (2014) The growth in digital reporting: What it means for journalism and news consumers. Report for the Pew Research Center. Available at: http://www.journalism.org/files/2014/03/Shifts-in-Reporting_For-uploading.pdf (accessed 30 March 2017).

27.

Knight Foundation (2015) Gaining ground: How nonprofit news ventures seek sustainability. Available at: https://kf-site-production.s3.amazonaws.com/publications/pdfs/000/000/178/original/KF_NonprofitNews2015.pdf (retrieved 30 March 2017).

28.

Koehn

(2012) From calm leadership, lasting change. The New York Times. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/business/rachel-carsons-lessons-50-years-after-silent-spring.html (accessed 30 March 2017).

29.

McClure

(2010) How non-profit journalism is changing the ‘news ecosystem’. Investigate West. Available at: http://invw.org/2010/12/24/how-non-profit-journalism-is-changing-the-news-ecosystem/ (accessed 26 March 2017).

30.

Mayer

(2011) Three kinds of engagement: Outreach, conversation, collaboration. Joy Mayer. Available at: https://joymayer.com/2011/06/18/three-kinds-of-engagement-outreach-conversation-collaboration/ (accessed 27 March 2017).

31.

Moyer-Gusé

Mahood

Brookes

(2011) Entertainment-education in the context of humor: Effects on safer sex intentions and risk perceptions. Health Communication 26: 765–744.

32.

Murray

(2010) N.J. to add up to 25 more ‘superfund’ sites in next 5 years as competition for federal funds increases. nj.com. Available at: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/nj_to_add_up_to_25_more_superf.html (accessed 30 March 2017).

33.

Nabi

Moyer-Gusé

Byrne

(2007) All joking aside: A serious investigation into the persuasive effect of funny social issue messages. Communication Monographs 74(1): 29–54.

34.

Nee

(2013) Creative destruction: An exploratory study of how digitally native news nonprofits are innovating online journalism practices. International Journal on Media Management 15(1): 3–22.

35.

Outing

(2005) The 11 layers of citizen journalism. Poynter. Available at: https://www.poynter.org/2005/the-11-layers-of-citizen-journalism/69328/ (accessed 30 March 2017).

36.

Petty

Cacioppo

(1986) The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. In: Berkowitz

(ed.) Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 19. New York: Academic Press, pp. 123–205.

37.

Pitt

(2014) Sensors and journalism. Report, Tow center. Available at: http://towcenter.org/research/sensors-and-journalism/ (accessed 29 March 2017).

38.

Protess

Cook

Curtin

, et al. (1987) The impact of investigative reporting on public opinion and policymaking targeting toxic waste. Public Opinion Quarterly 51(2): 166–185.

39.

Proud

(2015) The news is served: How newsrooms can connect with communities. Current. Available at: http://current.org/2015/12/the-news-is-served-how-newsrooms-can-connect-with-communities/ (accessed 29 March 2017).

40.

Superfund (2017) EPA. Available at: https://www.epa.gov/superfund (accessed 30 March 2017).

41.

Superfund Community Involvement (2016) EPA. Available at: https://www.epa.gov/superfund/superfund-community-involvement (accessed 30 March 2017).

42.

Tofel

(2013) Non-profit journalism: Issues around impact. Report, ProPublica. Available at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/propublica/assets/about/LFA_ProPublica-white-paper_2.1.pdf (accessed 30 March 2017).

43.

Xenos

Becker

(2009) Moments of Zen: Effects of the daily show on information seeking and political learning. Political Communication 26(3): 317–332.

44.

Young

(2013) Laughter, learning, or enlightenment? Viewing and avoidance motivations behind The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 57(2): 153–169.

45.

Zhang

(1996) Responses to humorous advertising: The moderating effect of need for cognition. Journal of Advertising 25(1): 15–32.

An investigative journalist and a stand-up comic walk into a bar: The role of comedy in public engagement with environmental journalism

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References