Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Much work has shown that the media has the capacity to influence public issue salience and subsequent government policy, however little theory has been tested to explain news content. News firms in the United States operate in a capitalistic environment and rely upon a sizeable consumer base to remain in business. Given this, news firms may cater their news products to appeal to the preferences of audiences. This paper examines the influence of mass partisanship on subsequent issue reporting in the nightly network news over a period of twenty-two years. Time-series regression indicates that changes in macro-partisanship predict subsequent coverage of party-owned issues. This finding suggests that news firms account for mass opinions in their assessments of newsworthiness. This also implies that the media, charged with an important role in democratic governance, may provide citizens with what they want to know, rather than what they need to know.