Study: Spread Of Fox News Made Members Of Congress More Conservative

Using the fact that the Fox News Channel was launched in October 1996 and it gradually spread across congressional districts in the United States in a manner unrelated to the ideology of the district and the incumbent representative, we show that there is a modest effect on elected officials' positions — representatives from districts where Fox News begins broadcasting become slightly more conservative relative to similar representatives in otherwise similar districts where Fox News is not present. Given the distinctive ideological content of Fox News, the effect is predictably largest among the more liberal members. However, we find no evidence that Fox News affected which representatives were re-elected or replaced.

[link:http://www.yale.edu/csap/seminars/clinton.pdf|
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