Tweaking The Laugh Track: The Ethics Of Orchestrated Responses

I know little about diplomacy — indeed, I occasionally dish out some rather vicious tweets — but I do know media manipulation…

So when I received an invitation to write for USC’s Public Diplomacy Magazine (a surprise and an honor), I decided to address a growing malpractice: faking audience reactions.

My article starts with laugh tracks in TV sitcoms: the fake laughter that makes me cringe. Then I focus on a modern variation of the laugh track: what many people call “influencer marketing.”

You can read it all — free — in Issue 23 of Public Diplomacy, “Ethics In Diplomacy.” You’ll find my article on pages 43-45.

Let me know what you think. And, no, you don’t have to be diplomatic.