Deliberation in online political talk: exploring interactivity, diversity, rationality, and incivility in the public spheres surrounding news vs. satire

Abstract Political satire is often believed to enrich the public sphere in ways distinct from traditional journalism. This study examines whether deliberative qualities of online political talk in response to satire differ from those in response to regular news or partisan news. The analysis focuses on four normative standards: interactivity, diversity, rationality, and civility. A manual content analysis of YouTube comments (n = 2,447) reveals that the public sphere surrounding political satire shows a notable strength: Less incivility, both in terms of impoliteness and intolerance. Surprisingly, aside from this, satire’s public sphere did not differ much from that of regular news. Comments on partisan news were more opinionated and ideologically diverse. These findings suggest that online political talk prompted by satire is not inferior to that of traditional news. Additionally, this study highlights how the presence of different normative standards is often interconnected.