They always save the citizens on TV — but the elite detectives of “Law & Order” might just save the rest of us, too.
In her new book “Celebritocracy,” Cooper Lawrence has published an original study that shows that millennials who love the iconic cop show and its ilk are more likely to meaningfully engage with politics than their peers who watch cable news. Radio host and author Lawrence tells us that people who have “a strong sense of fairness” tend to gravitate to shows like “Law & Order” whose protagonists “seek a just world” — and that those viewers are the most likely “to vote, stump for a candidate, and exhibit all kinds of political behaviors.”
Meanwhile, Cooper tested the political IQ of cable news junkies by asking 302 millennials questions like, “To override a presidential veto, how much of a majority is required in the Senate and the House?” and “What position is held by [Chief Justice] John G. Roberts?”
“I found that the more national news you watched,” Lawrence writes, “the less likely you were to know the answers to our political knowledge questions.”
The book’s out now.