Local Television News, Political Participation and Political Knowledge
A large body of literature exists that seeks to understand how individuals use and are affected by various types of mass media. This research is limited by its focus on national broadcast news programs and national newspapers in the United States with comparatively less attention directed toward local television news. This drawback becomes more significant given that national surveys routinely find larger audiences for local than national news. This presents the results of a content analysis of local television news programming. Next combining individual level survey data from National Election Studies and voting records from the Record of American Democracy project, the study explores the relationships among political information, political participation, and the incumbency advantage. The study demonstrates that individuals living in media markets where the geographical boundaries of the media market are more congruent with the geographical boundaries of the United States Congressional District are more likely to have more knowledge of their Representatives, have higher levels of political participation, and incumbents have lower reelection rates.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign