ABSTRACT
R. Lance Holbert, Temple University, Carina Weinmann, University of Mannheim, and Nicholas Robinson, Temple University
This essay focuses on enjoyment- and appreciation-seeking motivations for political media consumption. When viewed from hedonic and eudaimonic orientations, it is revealed that the permanently online, permanently connected (POPC) communication environment affords citizens (1) greater opportunities to supplement traditional political media experiences with enjoyment- and appreciation-based activities, (2) the possibility of consuming larger quantities of political entertainment media, and (3) an ability to create and distribute their own political entertainment content. Future research areas involving the need for new theory, more rigorous stimuli manipulations, and a dissection of humor given its complexity and diversity of message structure are explored.
