by Audrey S. Wang
Abstract
This paper employs a panel approach to investigate the role of partisan cable news in shaping economic perceptions using the VOTER Survey dataset (2016–2020) and sentiment-scored transcripts from Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, examining how sentiment and coverage intensity interact with individuals’ viewership patterns to affect macroeconomic assessments. Findings suggest changes in exposure to cable news affects viewers’ economic perceptions, with effects varying by network, viewership patterns, time horizon and primetime exposure. Fox News exhibits particularly polarizing influence, with positive shifts in exposure improving economic outlooks among its viewers while worsening perceptions among non-viewers. Effects are moderated when individuals do not exclusively watch Fox News, suggesting a countervailing effect to watching multiple, ideologically diverse channels. Strikingly, non-primetime exposure to Fox’s coverage is more consistently associated with shifts in sentiment than primetime exposure, even among non-viewers — indicating that lower-profile programming may diffuse more broadly into the ambient media environment. In contrast, CNN’s economic coverage shows limited or short-lived influence, and MSNBC’s effects are more time-sensitive and contingent on viewership. These findings underscore the persistent influence of cable news in shaping public economic perceptions and suggest that media effects are not uniform across formats or audiences.
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
Professor Bocar Ba, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: L8, L82
Keywords: Cable news; Consumer sentiment; Sentiment analysis
