The impact of entertainment factors on news enjoyment and recall: Humour and human interest

The inclusion of entertaining factors in broadcast news is a widely debated topic and enduring issue in journalism, which has both significant theoretical and practical implications. The constant battle over how to attract the largest audience without changing the ‘hard news’ format is a source of contention for many in the industry today. This research project aims to ask questions, the answers to which may have some significant impact on the format of television newscasts. In a between-subjects experiment, this study investigates how two entertainment variables, humour and human interest, as well as the combination of both in a story, impact news enjoyment and recall. Results show that humorous news stories and humorous human interest news stories are enjoyed significantly more than neutral news stories. Respondents (N=156) recall the news stories better when humour is featured. However, the combination (news story with humour and human) condition generates lower recall than the humorous version. Several observations related to the findings and implications for broadcast journalism are elaborated. The conclusions drawn from the study might provide television news producers with a strong foundation for changing the structure of newscasts in the future. Limitations and directions for future research are also outlined.