Primacy effects of The Daily Show and national tv news viewing: young viewers, political gratifications, and internal political self-efficacy

This study examines program ordering effects derived from viewing CNN television news relative to The Daily Show on the political gratifications associated with both types of information sources. Internal political self-efficacy is assessed as an individual-difference moderator. Main primacy effects are found on the gratifications associated with both national television news viewing and The Daily Show viewing. However, The Daily Show primacy effect on the political gratifications associated with national television news viewing was isolated among those participants who retain low internal political self-efficacy. Ramifications for these findings are outlined and future lines of research are summarized.
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has become a fixture on the U.S. political landscape (Mutz, 2004). There is much discussion within the popular press as to the legitimacy of [...]