In Political News…Partisan Slant and Viewer Polarization in Local and Late-Night Broadcast Television

Abstract

This thesis examines pressures on local and late-night broadcast television programs to include partisan slant and discusses policy measures that could provide relief from these pressures. Local and late-night news were chosen as subjects of analysis due to the accessibility of and trust in network television and the historically nonpartisan and apolitical nature of these platforms. I pose the question: How has partisan slant infiltrated historically unbiased news platforms, and how do slanted news reports affect information retention and polarized attitudes among news consumers? The aim of this research is to add to the existing literature by illuminating changes in the late-night and local news platforms in the last decade and exploring the consequences for their viewership bases. Through an exploration of viewership demographic shifts and a review of content analyses, I find that partisanship in late-night television is viewer-driven, while partisanship in local news is owner-driven. I conduct an experimental study analyzing immediate effects of slanted late-night and local news reports on respondent accuracy and partisan attitudes and opinions, in which treatment effects were not detected and party identification played a significant role. These findings suggest that these platforms’ power lies in reinforcement of preexisting beliefs, and limitations of this study design are discussed. Based on my findings, I conclude that ownership regulations as opposed to content regulations are a more effective way to protect balance while safeguarding the media’s role as a check on power.