ABSTRACT

How does local television news shape viewers’ national political attitudes? The answer is unclear, because local news typically focuses on local, not national, stories, and is politically neutral. But the rise of Sinclair Broadcasting, now the nation’s second-largest owner of local TV stations, upends that assumption. News on Sinclair-owned stations focuses more on national topics, and presents them with a right-wing slant. Given this, we might expect it to shift its viewers’ attitudes in a pro-Republican direction. Using data on Sinclair’s acquisition of local TV stations between 2008 and 2018, I show that living in an area with a Sinclair-owned TV station lowers viewers’ approval of President Obama during his tenure in office, and makes viewers less likely to vote for the Democratic nominee for president. This has important implications for our understanding of the effects of local TV news, as well as for media trust, as I discuss in the conclusion.

摘要

地方电视新闻如何塑造观众的国家政治态度？答案尚不清楚，因为地方新闻通常关注地方性而非全国性的故事，并且在政治上是中立的。但辛克莱广播公司的崛起，现在是全国第二大地方电视台所有者，颠覆了这一假设。辛克莱旗下电台的新闻更多地关注国家话题，并呈现出右翼倾向。鉴于此，我们可能会期望它将观众的态度转向亲共和党的方向。使用辛克莱在 2008 年至 2018 年间收购当地电视台的数据，我表明，居住在拥有辛克莱旗下电视台的地区会降低观众对奥巴马总统在任期间的认可度，并降低观众投票支持总统奥巴马的可能性。民主党总统候选人。