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The World Wide Web and the U.S. Political News Market

Author

Listed:
  • Norman H. Nie
  • Darwin W. Miller, III
  • Saar Golde
  • Daniel M. Butler
  • Kenneth Winneg

Abstract

We propose a framework for understanding how the Internet has affected the U.S. political news market. The framework is driven by the lower cost of production for online news and consumers' tendency to seek out media that conform to their own beliefs. The framework predicts that consumers of Internet news sources should hold more extreme political views and be interested in more diverse political issues than those who solely consume mainstream television news. We test these predictions using two large datasets with questions about news exposure and political views. Generally speaking, we find that consumers of generally left‐of‐center (right‐of‐center) cable news sources who combine their cable news viewing with online sources are more liberal (conservative) than those who do not. We also find that those who use online news content are more likely than those who consume only television news content to be interested in niche political issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Norman H. Nie & Darwin W. Miller, III & Saar Golde & Daniel M. Butler & Kenneth Winneg, 2010. "The World Wide Web and the U.S. Political News Market," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(2), pages 428-439, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:54:y:2010:i:2:p:428-439
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5907.2010.00439.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stefano DellaVigna & Ethan Kaplan, 2007. "The Fox News Effect: Media Bias and Voting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1187-1234.
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    4. John Dimmick & Yan Chen & Zhan Li, 2004. "Competition Between the Internet and Traditional News Media: The Gratification-Opportunities Niche Dimension," Journal of Media Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 19-33.
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    6. Jonathan S. Morris, 2007. "Slanted Objectivity? Perceived Media Bias, Cable News Exposure, and Political Attitudes," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 88(3), pages 707-728, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jimmy Chan & Daniel Stone, 2013. "Media proliferation and partisan selective exposure," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 156(3), pages 467-490, September.
    2. Baccini, Leonardo & Sudulich, Maria Laura & Wall, Matthew, 2016. "Internet effects in times of political crisis: online newsgathering and attitudes towards the European Union," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 62302, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Tatsuo Tanaka, 2019. "Does the Internet cause polarization? -Panel survey in Japan-," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2019-015, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University.
    4. Hae Jung Oh & Zhieh Lor & Jihyang Choi, 2021. "News Repertoires and Political Information Efficacy: Focusing on the Mediating Role of Perceived News Overload," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440209, January.
    5. Nicholas Charron & Paola Annoni, 2021. "What is the Influence of News Media on People’s Perception of Corruption? Parametric and Non-Parametric Approaches," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 153(3), pages 1139-1165, February.
    6. Valentino Larcinese & Luke Miner, 2017. "The Political Impact of the Internet on US Presidential Elections," STICERD - Economic Organisation and Public Policy Discussion Papers Series 63, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    7. Stone, Daniel F., 2013. "Media and gridlock," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 94-104.

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