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Slanted Objectivity? Perceived Media Bias, Cable News Exposure, and Political Attitudes

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  • Jonathan S. Morris

Abstract

Objectives. This research explores the consequences of a fragmented television news audience. The recent proliferation of a wide array of television news sources has influenced the manner in which a large number of Americans get their information about politics and government. The political consequences of media fragmentation and the polarization of the U.S. television news audience are explored. Methods. I analyze data on television news‐gathering habits and political attitudes collected from several surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center during the 2004 presidential election campaign. Results. The Fox News Channel has been the main beneficiary of television news fragmentation by appealing to those individuals who have become disillusioned with what they perceive as a liberally‐biased mainstream media. The findings show that the Fox News audience has a distinct set of political attitudes regarding President Bush and his opposition. Evidence also indicates that the Fox News audience has distinct voting behavior patterns, even when controlling for party identification. Finally, the results illustrate that Fox News watchers have perceptions of political reality that differ from the rest of the television news audience. Conclusions. The television news audience is divided along political lines. This division could contribute toward further political polarization among the U.S. mass public as the content of television news coverage of politics becomes less and less homogenized.

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  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:88:y:2007:i:3:p:707-728
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2007.00479.x
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    1. Tomz, Michael & Wittenberg, Jason & King, Gary, 2003. "Clarify: Software for Interpreting and Presenting Statistical Results," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 8(i01).
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    Cited by:

    1. Cohen, Jeffrey E., 2018. "Voters and presidential intelligence," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 54-65.
    2. Bernhardt, Lea & Dewenter, Ralf & Thomas, Tobias, 2020. "Measuring partisan media bias in US Newscasts from 2001-2012," Working Paper 183/2020, Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg, revised 15 Nov 2022.
    3. Dewenter, Ralf & Dulleck, Uwe & Thomas, Tobias, 2018. "The political coverage index and its application to government capture," Research Papers 6, EcoAustria – Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Papazian, Nick, 2017. "Post-Truth Overexposure: Media Consumption and Confidence in Institutions," SocArXiv c4ur3, Center for Open Science.
    5. Bernhardt, Lea & Dewenter, Ralf & Thomas, Tobias, 2020. "Watchdog or loyal servant? Political media bias in US newscasts," DICE Discussion Papers 348, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    6. Ruixia Han & Jian Xu & David Pan, 2022. "How Media Exposure, Media Trust, and Media Bias Perception Influence Public Evaluation of COVID-19 Pandemic in International Metropolises," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-14, March.
    7. Arshad Ali & Syed Inam ur Rahman, 2019. "Media Bias Effects on Voters in Pakistan," Global Regional Review, Humanity Only, vol. 4(4), pages 557-567, December.
    8. Dewenter, Ralf & Linder, Melissa & Thomas, Tobias, 2018. "Can media drive the electorate? The impact of media coverage on party affiliation and voting intentions," Research Papers 7, EcoAustria – Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Thomas, Tobias, 2020. "Zur Rolle der Medien in der Demokratie," DICE Ordnungspolitische Perspektiven 104, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    10. 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.
    11. Stephen Chaudoin & David Smith & Johannes Urpelainen, 2014. "American evangelicals and domestic versus international climate policy," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 441-469, December.
    12. David S. Morris & Jonathan S. Morris, 2022. "Partisan media exposure, polarization, and candidate evaluations in the 2016 general election," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1101-1112, September.
    13. Dewenter, Ralf & Linder, Melissa & Thomas, Tobias, 2019. "Can media drive the electorate? The impact of media coverage on voting intentions," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 245-261.
    14. Ralf Dewenter & Uwe Dulleck & Tobias Thomas, 2020. "Does the 4th estate deliver? The Political Coverage Index and its application to media capture," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 292-328, September.
    15. Moule, Richard K., 2020. "Under siege?: Assessing public perceptions of the “War on Police”," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    16. Bernhardt, Lea & Dewenter, Ralf & Thomas, Tobias, 2023. "Measuring partisan media bias in US newscasts from 2001 to 2012," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    17. 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.

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