The Good Citizen Analysis

This growing sense of political cynicism rooted in the millennial generation can help to explain a shift in the norms of citizenship. Dalton points out in his work, The Good Citizen: How a Younger Generation Is Reshaping American Politics, that the Millennial generation is expounding the trend away from a more traditional definition of citizenship. What he refers to as a duty-based citizen primarily focuses on voting, serving in the military, obeying all laws and supporting the government. This is in contrast to the engaged citizen, who does not voter regularly, but is more inclined to participate in protests. (Dalton). A greater level of cynicism in Millennials would easily explain the negative effects, that being subpar voting numbers, as well as the positive effects, the greater likelihood of questioning the established process, both electorally and as it pertains to the news media.
The effects of political satire are not entirely positive or negative. Viewers can grow cynical, leading them to be less likely to participate in the traditional

sense. However, cynicism could also lead viewers to question the traditional ways politics are played out. The main idea moving forward, as Dalton states in his book, is not to focus on how the younger generations are different in their political news consumption, but rather to find ways to incorporate those differences into the political system.
It seems that the main issue is that instead of focusing on the idea that the newer ways of doing things could actually be better, too many researches focus on the fact that the methods aren’t the same, and follow up with an assumption that because it isn’t the same, it must be worse. However, engaged citizenship has proven to be extremely beneficial for American society, and while it may lack some of the aspects of duty-based citizenship, there is no doubt that it has its benefits as well.
The idea that a form of news that is less serious, more humorous, and spreading through late night television could actually be useful is certainly a difficult concept to grasp, but clearly there is plenty of material to defend it.

Soft news does not have the same restraints as hard news; it is a type of media that thrives on uncomfortable topics and uses humor to push the boundaries of these topics to make the public more aware. With this candid attitude that citizens are quickly becoming more exposed to, it is not surprising that individuals everywhere are being more vocal about which issues concern them specifically, rather than which issues the media tells them to concern themselves with. There is nothing off-limits in the soft news world, and with its amusing and passive way of informing the public, it would surely continue to maintain itself throughout history, despite the efforts of those who try to hinder

it.