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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.07269 |
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| _version_ | 1866910833029677056 |
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| author | Widmer, Philine Meraim, Clémentine Abed Galletta, Sergio Ash, Elliott |
| author_facet | Widmer, Philine Meraim, Clémentine Abed Galletta, Sergio Ash, Elliott |
| contents | This paper examines the diffusion of media slant. We document the influence of Fox News Channel (FNC) on the partisan slant of local newspapers in the U.S. over the years 1995-2008. We measure the political slant of local newspapers by scaling the news article texts to Republicans' and Democrats' speeches in Congress. Using channel positioning as an instrument for viewership, we find that higher FNC viewership causes local newspapers to adopt more right-wing slant. The effect emerges gradually, only several years after FNC's introduction, mirroring the channel's growing influence on voting behavior. A main driver of the shift in newspaper slant appears to be a change in local political preferences. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2202_07269 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Media Slant is Contagious Widmer, Philine Meraim, Clémentine Abed Galletta, Sergio Ash, Elliott General Economics Economics Computation and Language Computers and Society This paper examines the diffusion of media slant. We document the influence of Fox News Channel (FNC) on the partisan slant of local newspapers in the U.S. over the years 1995-2008. We measure the political slant of local newspapers by scaling the news article texts to Republicans' and Democrats' speeches in Congress. Using channel positioning as an instrument for viewership, we find that higher FNC viewership causes local newspapers to adopt more right-wing slant. The effect emerges gradually, only several years after FNC's introduction, mirroring the channel's growing influence on voting behavior. A main driver of the shift in newspaper slant appears to be a change in local political preferences. |
| title | Media Slant is Contagious |
| topic | General Economics Economics Computation and Language Computers and Society |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.07269 |