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This dissertation examines contemporary satirical news. Satirical news covers current affairs through a unique mix of humorous and critical commentary. Previously, researchers have especially examined (a) which types of individuals regularly consume satirical news, (b) which messages they are exposed to, and (c) when and how exposure to satirical news messages influences individuals’ feelings, knowledge, attitudes, and behavior towards the satirized topics and targets. Such studies have contributed many valuable insights into the scope and dynamics of satirical news, but they largely focused on one specific type of outlet: American television shows with a liberal political leaning, such as The Daily Show. In doing so, previous research mostly treated satirical news as monolithic: a phenomenon that manifests in consistent and coherent ways across outlets. The novel contribution of this dissertation is that it opens up the satirical news literature to include popular yet understudied outlets for satirical news to improve scholarly understanding of the genre as a whole: its consumption, its (message) characteristics, and its consequences. These outlets include (1) satirical news outlets from other countries than the United States (i.e., the Netherlands), (2) satirical news outlets that publish written articles online (vs. television shows), and (3) satirical news outlets with a conservative political leaning (vs. liberal). This dissertation thus breaks new ground by systematically identifying when and how the genre of satirical news is not monolithic but diverse across outlets. The dissertation draws upon multiple theoretical approaches (e.g., field theory, discursive integration hypothesis, framing theory) and debates in the satirical news literature (e.g., about satirical news having a liberal bias). Eight studies were conducted, which are presented in six stand-alone articles. First, a cross-sectional survey compared audience characteristics as predictors of satirical news consumption between outlets that differed in country origin. Linguistic analyses that focused on the co-occurrences of linguistic features next explored how satirical news reflects a blend of regular news and fiction across outlets that differed in medium type and political leaning. In subsequent chapters, computer-automated and manual content analyses identified outlet differences in the use of frames that highlight personality traits of societal actors (character frames), emotional interpretations of the news (emotional frames), moral interpretations (moral frames), and metaphorical and hyperbolic interpretations (figurative frames). Finally, a social media analysis and two experiments were conducted to test for associations across outlets between the presence of figurative framing in satirical news and engagement and persuasion. The main findings of these studies belong to three categories: genre-level findings, outlet-type-specific findings, and outlet-specific findings. Findings that were shared across all examined outlets in this dissertation can be considered compatible with a monolithic approach to studying satirical news. However, many main findings were outlet-type-specific or outlet-specific, which empirically confirms that satirical news is not monolithic and should better be studied using a pluralistic approach. Therefore, this dissertation brings to light the importance of justifying the selection of outlets in research that assesses the social, cultural, and political significance of the genre. Satirical news findings are likely to differ between different types of outlets and between individual outlets for satirical news. This notion has important implications for satire theory, because some theories, models, and concepts may only apply to some satirical news outlet types or individual outlets. Moreover, practical implications of satirical news’ consumption, characteristics, and consequences for society and politics should also be viewed through a pluralistic theoretical lens. It may for instance well be that only some outlet types or outlets promote polarization and not all outlets engage the politically unengaged. Taken together, this dissertation calls for a shift in satirical news research towards a more outlet-centered paradigm.

In die digitale era bevind koerante regoor die wêreld hulself in ongekende waters en probeer inkomste vanuit aanlyn verkeer genereer. Sommige koerante, soos die Wallstreet Journal, het dié stap met merkwaardige sukses geneem, terwyl ander koerante jammerlik gefaal het. Die digitale era plaas ook geweldig druk op die koerantindustrie in Suid-Afrika. Sirkulasiesyfers en winste wys ʼn dalende tendens. Die invloed van die internet en aanlyn nuus het ʼn beduidende impak op die wyse waarop koerantuitgewers inkomste en winste gaan genereer. Indien die huidige afname in sirkulasie voortduur, kan daar so min as 750 000 koerante in sirkulasie wees in Suid-Afrika teen 2020. Koerantuitgewers behoort alternatiewe inkomstestrome vir digitale koerante te ondersoek, insluitend bekostigbare alternatiewe vir adverteerders, om te verseker dat die uitgewers hierdie adverteerders behou. Die doel van dié navorsing is om ʼn strategiese assessering te maak van die strategiese oorwegings in die migrasie vanaf gedrukte na digitale media. The newspaper industry in South Africa has been placed under severe pressure with the digital era in recent years. Circulation figures have dropped and profits have decreased. The influence of the Internet and news online could have a significant impact on the manner in which newspaper publishers generate revenue and profits in the future. If the current decrease in circulation continues, there could be as little as 750 000 newspapers in circulation in South Africa by the year 2020. The latest figures still confirm the decline in all classes of newspapers: daily newspapers, pdf replicas, weekly newspapers, weekend and free newspapers. The study shows that one-fifth of SA has partially or completely migrated to online news, which can be the dominant factor for the decrease in circulation rates. The dilemma manifests itself in South Africa's traditional largest daily newspapers in an increasingly thinning newspaper versus higher than inflationary price increases. The latter culminates in price sensitive readers who respond by purchasing their favourite daily newspaper on selective days only. The Internet of Things in South Africa will grow exponentially as data costs decrease and Internet access improves so that online media usage will grow accordingly. The growing phenomenon of digital media is changing the market landscape significantly and could have dire consequences for the newspaper publisher who does not manage any migration strategically. Is this a case of the famous newspaper cliché: "stop the press!" - especially for Afrikaans daily newspapers? The Internet undermines newspapers' advertising revenues and news became a commodity that could dramatically change the traditional business model. From the contrasting market trends pointed out in the article, it is clear that this complex news ecosystem requires interaction with the readers to pinpoint future consumer journeys. A major challenge is advertisers who now reach larger audiences with digital and broadcast media at a much lower price than those of newspaper advertising. The worrying aspect for the industry is that a loss of advertising revenue in printed newspapers has not been supplemented by an increase in revenue for digital advertising on newspaper websites or online newspapers. Although most newspapers in the world already have an online version, the majority struggle to run it profitably. The news industry is therefore still looking for a sustainable business model. Market structures are constantly changing due to market dynamics. The article indicates that in a fully competitive market, the industry's demand and supply determine the prevailing market price, and with the concentrated media market in South Africa, several strategies can be followed to win market share. In essence, the South African media industry is oligopolistic in nature. The growing presence of complementary and substitute products in the media industry for printed newspapers has caused significant changes with the ecosystems in terms of the quantity demanded versus changes in demand. Newspaper publishers in the new fragmented media market need to make strategic decisions for sustained growth and improved operational efficiency. In response to the challenges of newspapers, several strategic considerations are proposed - a series of consolidations are already happening in the industry with larger media houses that aggressively acquired smaller competitors. Mergers and acquisitions can provide traction to newspapers and rationalize the number of major players in the industry. The above implies changing business models that are adaptable for strategic considerations to increase subscription and advertising income levels and revenue from other avenues. The strategic options aim to realize greater scale, increasing circulation and income stability. A sustained factor for the printed newspaper is the existing brand value created. Confidence will play a more important role in today's news landscape with its escalating fake news. The research found that trends in the printed newspaper market have yielded confusing results over the last few years. It represents a world of increasing openness, media diversity and complex choices on both sides of the market. The newspaper industry in South Africa is still navigating through the many variables and hence there is no single optimizing business model. The successful transformation of the printing industry with news as commodity will be driven by relevant research data. The demand for newspapers as a whole is under pressure due to a growing consumer empowerment for other substitutes. Undoubtedly, the industry in South Africa will also increasingly integrate print and digital operations into a hybrid model with the continuous pursuit of critical mass in a multi-channel marketing landscape. For Afrikaans newspapers it implies that the business model going forward needs to be more diversified. The newspaper industry is increasingly becoming a scale business and the overall characteristic is therefore a consolidation phase that strives for optimal mixtures between the various media formats. There is still a viable demand for the printed Afrikaans newspaper, but creative innovation is required to make it sustainable. In the end, it is still market forces that will be the major determinant and, by implication, the Afrikaans reader who is going to drive the quantity demanded.

Bij het omrekenen van eenheden - zoals bijvoorbeeld van dm³ naar mm³ - wordt vaak gewerkt met schema’s of trappetjes. Dikwijls zie je in posters en plaatjes de eenheden met hetzelfde voorvoegsel (prefix) - zoals bijvoorbeeld kilo (k) of deci (d) - boven of naast elkaar staan zoals in onderstaande voorbeeld: km³ ---- hm³ ---- dam³ ----- m³ ------- dm³---- cm³---- mm³ kl ------- hl ------- dal ------- liter ------ dl ------- cl ------ ml kg ------ hg ------ dag ----- gram ------ dg ------ cg ----- mg Het zorgt echter voor verwarring bij leerlingen in het basis- en voorgezet onderwijs. Bijvoorbeeld: 1 dm³ water komt overeen met 1 liter en niet met 1 dl (uitgaande van een watertemperatuur van 4 0C). Liter en dm³ staan niet onder elkaar in bovenstaande tabel. Ook zie je dat 1 cm³ en 1 ml niet onder elkaar staan, terwijl 1 cm³ = 1 ml. Ondanks hetzelfde voorvoegsel corresponderen alle bovenstaande grootheden niet met elkaar wat betreft grootte met als enige uitzondering 1 mm³ = 1 mg. In het te downloaden basisschema - zie link 'metriek stelsel' - zijn de corresponderende grootheden wel onder elkaar geplaatst. Het basisschema geeft overigens een beperkt beeld: in beginsel zijn alleen de prefixen opgenomen oplopend van milli (m) tot kilo (k). Nog kleinere en nog grotere eenheden zijn in het schema weggelaten, op een paar uitzonderingen na: megagram, micrometer en microliter.

Bij het omrekenen van eenheden - zoals bijvoorbeeld van dm³ naar mm³ - wordt vaak gewerkt met schema’s of trappetjes. Dikwijls zie je in posters en plaatjes de eenheden met hetzelfde voorvoegsel (prefix) - zoals bijvoorbeeld kilo (k) of deci (d) - boven of naast elkaar staan zoals in onderstaande voorbeeld:km³ ---- hm³ ---- dam³ ----- m³ ------- dm³---- cm³---- mm³kl ------- hl ------- dal ------- liter ------ dl ------- cl ------ mlkg ------ hg ------ dag ----- gram ------ dg ------ cg ----- mgHet zorgt echter voor verwarring bij leerlingen in het basis- en voorgezet onderwijs. Bijvoorbeeld: 1 dm³ water komt overeen met 1 liter en niet met 1 dl (uitgaande van een watertemperatuur van 4 0C). Liter en dm³ staan niet onder elkaar in bovenstaande tabel. Ook zie je dat 1 cm³ en 1 ml niet onder elkaar staan, terwijl 1 cm³ = 1 ml. Ondanks hetzelfde voorvoegsel corresponderen alle bovenstaande grootheden niet met elkaar wat betreft grootte met als enige uitzondering 1 mm³ = 1 mg.In het te downloaden basisschema - zie link 'metriek stelsel'- zijn de corresponderende grootheden wel onder elkaar geplaatst. Het basisschema geeft overigens een beperkt beeld: in beginsel zijn alleen de prefixen opgenomen oplopend van milli (m) tot kilo (k). Nog kleinere en nog grotere eenheden zijn in het schema weggelaten, op een paar uitzonderingen na: megagram, micrometer en microliter.