Partisan TV consumption more widespread and isolated than previously thought

A new study published in the American Journal of Political Science has found that partisan television news consumption is more common than many might expect, with about 15% of Americans spending a significant amount of time each month watching channels that lean heavily to one side of the political spectrum. The research also challenges the common perception that partisan television audiences are made up solely of highly engaged partisans. Instead, a significant portion of viewers are weak partisans, independents, or even those whose political views do not align with the network they habitually watch.

There has been ongoing discussion for decades about how the news media affects what people think and believe about politics. The rise of television channels like Fox News, which present news from a distinctly partisan viewpoint, has intensified these discussions. Some experts worry that these channels could have a strong influence on public opinion because, unlike traditional news broadcasts that often try to present different sides of an issue, partisan channels offer a single perspective.

This could lead to “echo chambers” where people are only exposed to information that confirms their existing beliefs. Previous experiments have shown that when people are encouraged to watch partisan television, their political attitudes can shift. Given that Americans spend a lot of time watching television, these echo chambers could have a real impact.

However, some theories suggest that partisan television might not be as influential as some fear. One idea is that people mostly watch media that already agrees with their views. This is called “selective exposure.” If this is true, then people who choose to watch partisan television probably already have strong, aligned political opinions, leaving little room for the television to change their minds. According to this view, partisan media is more of a reflection of existing political divides than a cause of them.

Another perspective focuses on people’s desire to be accurate. It suggests that if people consume a variety of news sources, they can get a more complete picture and recognize the biases of each source. In this case, partisan television’s influence might be limited because viewers are also exposed to other viewpoints that help them understand and account for partisan bias.

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The new study wanted to investigate whether partisan television might have a greater ability to shape public opinion than these theories suggest. The researchers proposed that people might watch partisan television for reasons beyond just wanting to confirm their beliefs or be accurate. They suggested that people might be drawn to these channels because of engaging hosts, attractive visuals, or dramatic storytelling, and that watching these channels could become a habit.

To conduct their study, the researchers utilized three unique sets of data that linked television viewing behavior with information about people’s political views and actions. The first data source came from Nielsen, a company that measures television viewership for the media industry. Nielsen uses a panel of households across the United States who have devices installed in their homes that record what television programs are being watched.

For this study, the researchers worked with Nielsen to connect this viewership data with public records of voter registration, which include information on people’s party affiliation and voting history. This allowed them to see how much partisan television different types of voters were watching.

The second data source was from FourthWall, a company that collects data from cable television boxes. Similar to the Nielsen data, this data was linked to voter registration records. However, this data was limited to a few specific geographic areas.

The final data source was from smart televisions. Many modern smart TVs can track what is being watched and send this information back to the television manufacturer. The researchers obtained this anonymous viewing data from a media analytics company called Bully Pulpit Interactive. This data was then linked to a large survey conducted by the researchers, which asked people about their political attitudes, as well as to voter registration records. This provided a rich dataset combining actual viewing behavior with detailed information about people’s political beliefs.

Across all three datasets, the researchers focused on viewership of Fox News as a right-leaning channel and CNN and MSNBC combined as left-leaning channels. They also looked at viewership of traditional national broadcast news programs. To define a significant level of partisan television consumption, they used a threshold of watching at least eight hours per month, which is roughly equivalent to watching a half-hour of news four nights a week.

The researchers found that partisan television has a substantial audience. Across all data sources, they estimated that about 15% of Americans watch partisan television for more than eight hours per month. In fact, more people watch this much partisan television than watch traditional national broadcast news or local news. A smaller but still notable group, around 10% of Americans, watches over 16 hours of partisan television each month.

The study also shed light on who is watching partisan television. While it was true that people who identify with a political party were more likely to watch channels that aligned with their views, a considerable portion of the audience was not strongly partisan. In fact, across the different datasets, over half of the people who watched partisan channels were either weak partisans, independents, or even identified with the opposite political party. This suggests that directional motives alone do not fully explain partisan television consumption.

There was also evidence of “echo chambers.” Viewers of partisan channels very rarely watched channels from the opposite side of the political spectrum. There was also minimal overlap between partisan television viewership and traditional broadcast news viewership. Even independents and people who watched a partisan channel that did not align with their own views tended to watch only that single channel. In addition, the study showed that people’s partisan television viewing habits are very stable over time, meaning they tend to stick with the same channels, reinforcing the idea of habit formation and echo chambers.

Although this study provides a detailed understanding of partisan television consumption, it has some limitations. The data primarily focused on television viewing within households and did not capture viewing outside the home or consumption of news through other media like radio, online sources, or print. Also, some of the datasets were household-level, meaning they could not always pinpoint which individual in a household was watching. The reliance on commercial data also presents a limitation. Future research could explore the reasons why people, especially those not strongly partisan, choose to watch partisan television, perhaps through more in-depth interviews.

The study, “Selective exposure and echo chambers in partisan television consumption: Evidence from linked viewership, administrative, and survey data,” was authored by David E. Broockman and Joshua L. Kalla.