Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction 2. Data 3. Measuring Media Slant and 3.1. Text pre-processing and featurization 3.2. Classifying transcripts by TV source 3.3. Text similarity between newspapers and TV stations and 3.4. Topic model 4. Econometric Framework 4.1. Instrumental variables specification 4.2. Instrument first stage and validity 5. Results 5.1. Main results 5.2. Robustness checks 6. Mechanisms and Heterogeneity 6.1. Local vs. national or international news content 6.2. Cable news media slant polarizes local newspapers 7. Conclusion and References Online Appendices A. Data Appendix A.1. Newspaper articles A.2. Alternative county matching of newspapers and A.3. Filtering of the article snippets A.4. Included prime-time TV shows and A.5. Summary statistics B. Methods Appendix, B.1. Text pre-processing and B.2. Bigrams most predictive for FNC or CNN/MSNBC B.3. Human validation of NLP model B.4. Distribution of Fox News similarity in newspapers and B.5. Example articles by Fox News similarity B.6. Topics from the newspaper-based LDA model C. Results Appendix C.1. First stage results and C.2. Instrument exogeneity C.3. Placebo: Content similarity in 1995/96 C.4. OLS results C.5. Reduced form results C.6. Sub-samples: Newspaper headquarters and other counties and C.7. Robustness: Alternative county matching C.8. Robustness: Historical circulation weights and C.9. Robustness: Relative circulation weights C.10. Robustness: Absolute and relative FNC viewership and C.11. Robustness: Dropping observations and clustering C.12. Mechanisms: Language features and topics C.13. Mechanisms: Descriptive Evidence on Demand Side C.14. Mechanisms: Slant contagion and polarization B.4. Distribution of Fox News similarity in newspapers B.5. Example articles by Fox News similarity Table B.3: Newspaper articles that are most similar to Fox News Channel shows The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA), 2 January 2008 98% similarity to FNC Regarding their recent op-ed ["The Pentagon should stay out of Africa," Dec. 14], I am afraid Danny Glover and Nicole Lee are victims of misinformation about U.S. Africa Command. AFRICOM is not part of a "U.S. military expansion," nor will it involve placing many "American troops on foreign soil." Rather, AFRICOM marks recognition of the growing importance of Africa and reallocates responsibility for U.S. security interests accordingly. The U.S. Department of Defense assigns [...] The Sacramento Bee (CA), 19 May 2007 97% similarity to FNC Don Kercell thinks he’s earned a second chance. The Contractors State License Board does not agree. And therein lies a tale of choices and consequences; crime and punishment; addiction and rehabilitation; public protection and personal redemption – and second chances. Kercell is a 48-year-old resident of Rio Linda. In his youth, he discovered two things. One was that he had a talent for working with concrete. The other was methamphetamine. [...] Joplin Globe, the (MO), 28 April 2007 95% similarity to FNC Bush vows to veto any attempts by Dems to force troop pullout CAMP DAVID, Md. – President Bush warned Congress Friday that he will continue vetoing war spending bills as long as they contain a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. Speaking a day after the Democraticcontrolled Congress approved legislation that requires that a troop drawdown begin by Oct. 1, Bush said – as he has before - he will veto it because of that demand. He [...] The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN), 16 June 2008 83% similarity to FNC WASHINGTON – One momentous case down, another equally historic decision to go. The Supreme Court returns to the bench Monday with 17 cases still unresolved, including its first-ever comprehensive look at the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. The guns case – including Washington, D.C.’s ban on handguns – is widely expected to be a victory for supporters of gun rights. Top officials of a national gun control organization said this week that they expect the handgun ban to be [...] Table B.4: Newspaper articles that are most similar to CNN and MSNBC shows The Sun (San Bernardino, CA), 21 March 2005 3% similarity to FNC REDLANDS - A week after a state judge ruled that banning gay marriage is unconstitutional, students at University of Redlands will celebrate the milestone along with continued efforts to raise awareness of the gay community.The PRIDE Alliance, a campus group devoted to promoting tolerance on campus for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students, will celebrate PRIDE Week at the university through Friday. A series of events is scheduled to raise awareness on campus and in the [. . . ] Robesonian, the (Lumberton, NC), 12 October 2007 4% similarity to FNC About $18 billion a year has been drained from Africa by nearly two dozen wars in recent decades, a new report states, a price some officials say could’ve helped solve the AIDS crisis and created stronger economies in the world’s poorest region."This is money Africa can ill afford to lose," Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wrote in an introduction to the report by the British charity Oxfam and two groups that seek tougher controls on small arms, Saferworld [. . . ] Denver Examiner (CO), 26 September 2008 5% similarity to FNC John McCain and Barack Obama will indeed debate tonight at 7 p.m at the University of Mississippi, moderated by Jim Lehrer. The debate is scheduled to focus on issues of foreign policy, but given the economic meltdown of the last two weeks, and the Bush administration’s proposed $700 billion bailout plan, Politico is reporting that Lehrer might add in some questions on the economy. Also, Rich Lowry from National Review is reporting that everyone at Ole Miss "hates" McCain for [...] Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA), 22 June 2006 6% similarity to FNC There is finally some good news about the most sinister drug on the black market: crystal methamphetamine. Nationwide demand and production is down, according to federal drug cops. Meth, which has been linked to the spread of HIV in Long Beach’s gay community, is still out there, but law enforcement officials say plenty of busts are reducing supplies. We hope that treatment is part of the equation nationwide as it is California, where voters agreed to put more users in treatment than in [. . . ] This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. Authors:
(1) Philine Widmer, ETH Zürich and philine.widmer@gess.ethz.ch;
(2) Sergio Galletta, ETH Zürich and sergio.galletta@gess.ethz.ch;
(3) Elliott Ash, ETH Zürich and ashe@ethz.ch. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction 2. Data Abstract and 1 Introduction 2. Data 3. Measuring Media Slant and 3.1. Text pre-processing and featurization 3. Measuring Media Slant and 3.1. Text pre-processing and featurization 3.2. Classifying transcripts by TV source 3.2. Classifying transcripts by TV source 3.3. Text similarity between newspapers and TV stations and 3.4. Topic model 3.3. Text similarity between newspapers and TV stations and 3.4. Topic model 4. Econometric Framework 4.1. Instrumental variables specification 4.1. Instrumental variables specification 4.2. Instrument first stage and validity 4.2. Instrument first stage and validity 5. Results 5.1. Main results 5.1. Main results 5.2. Robustness checks 5.2. Robustness checks 6. Mechanisms and Heterogeneity 6.1. Local vs. national or international news content 6.1. Local vs. national or international news content 6.2. Cable news media slant polarizes local newspapers 6.2. Cable news media slant polarizes local newspapers 7. Conclusion and References 7. Conclusion and References Online Appendices Online Appendices A. Data Appendix A.1. Newspaper articles A.1. Newspaper articles A.2. Alternative county matching of newspapers and A.3. Filtering of the article snippets A.2. Alternative county matching of newspapers and A.3. Filtering of the article snippets A.4. Included prime-time TV shows and A.5. Summary statistics A.4. Included prime-time TV shows and A.5. Summary statistics B. Methods Appendix, B.1. Text pre-processing and B.2. Bigrams most predictive for FNC or CNN/MSNBC B. Methods Appendix, B.1. Text pre-processing and B.2. Bigrams most predictive for FNC or CNN/MSNBC B.3. Human validation of NLP model B.3. Human validation of NLP model B.4. Distribution of Fox News similarity in newspapers and B.5. Example articles by Fox News similarity B.4. Distribution of Fox News similarity in newspapers and B.5. Example articles by Fox News similarity B.6. Topics from the newspaper-based LDA model B.6. Topics from the newspaper-based LDA model C. Results Appendix C.1. First stage results and C.2. Instrument exogeneity C.1. First stage results and C.2. Instrument exogeneity C.3. Placebo: Content similarity in 1995/96 C.3. Placebo: Content similarity in 1995/96 C.4. OLS results C.4. OLS results C.5. Reduced form results C.5. Reduced form results C.6. Sub-samples: Newspaper headquarters and other counties and C.7. Robustness: Alternative county matching C.6. Sub-samples: Newspaper headquarters and other counties and C.7. Robustness: Alternative county matching C.8. Robustness: Historical circulation weights and C.9. Robustness: Relative circulation weights C.8. Robustness: Historical circulation weights and C.9. Robustness: Relative circulation weights C.10. Robustness: Absolute and relative FNC viewership and C.11. Robustness: Dropping observations and clustering C.10. Robustness: Absolute and relative FNC viewership and C.11. Robustness: Dropping observations and clustering C.12. Mechanisms: Language features and topics C.12. Mechanisms: Language features and topics C.13. Mechanisms: Descriptive Evidence on Demand Side C.13. Mechanisms: Descriptive Evidence on Demand Side C.14. Mechanisms: Slant contagion and polarization C.14. Mechanisms: Slant contagion and polarization B.4. Distribution of Fox News similarity in newspapers B.5. Example articles by Fox News similarity Table B.3: Newspaper articles that are most similar to Fox News Channel shows The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA), 2 January 2008 The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA), 2 January 2008 98% similarity to FNC 98% similarity to FNC Regarding their recent op-ed ["The Pentagon should stay out of Africa," Dec. 14], I am afraid Danny Glover and Nicole Lee are victims of misinformation about U.S. Africa Command. AFRICOM is not part of a "U.S. military expansion," nor will it involve placing many "American troops on foreign soil." Rather, AFRICOM marks recognition of the growing importance of Africa and reallocates responsibility for U.S. security interests accordingly. The U.S. Department of Defense assigns [...] The Sacramento Bee (CA), 19 May 2007 The Sacramento Bee (CA), 19 May 2007 97% similarity to FNC 97% similarity to FNC Don Kercell thinks he’s earned a second chance. The Contractors State License Board does not agree. And therein lies a tale of choices and consequences; crime and punishment; addiction and rehabilitation; public protection and personal redemption – and second chances. Kercell is a 48-year-old resident of Rio Linda. In his youth, he discovered two things. One was that he had a talent for working with concrete. The other was methamphetamine. [...] Joplin Globe, the (MO), 28 April 2007 Joplin Globe, the (MO), 28 April 2007 95% similarity to FNC 95% similarity to FNC Bush vows to veto any attempts by Dems to force troop pullout CAMP DAVID, Md. – President Bush warned Congress Friday that he will continue vetoing war spending bills as long as they contain a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. Speaking a day after the Democraticcontrolled Congress approved legislation that requires that a troop drawdown begin by Oct. 1, Bush said – as he has before - he will veto it because of that demand. He [...] The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN), 16 June 2008 The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN), 16 June 2008 83% similarity to FNC 83% similarity to FNC WASHINGTON – One momentous case down, another equally historic decision to go. The Supreme Court returns to the bench Monday with 17 cases still unresolved, including its first-ever comprehensive look at the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. The guns case – including Washington, D.C.’s ban on handguns – is widely expected to be a victory for supporters of gun rights. Top officials of a national gun control organization said this week that they expect the handgun ban to be [...] Table B.4: Newspaper articles that are most similar to CNN and MSNBC shows The Sun (San Bernardino, CA), 21 March 2005 The Sun (San Bernardino, CA), 21 March 2005 3% similarity to FNC 3% similarity to FNC REDLANDS - A week after a state judge ruled that banning gay marriage is unconstitutional, students at University of Redlands will celebrate the milestone along with continued efforts to raise awareness of the gay community.The PRIDE Alliance, a campus group devoted to promoting tolerance on campus for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students, will celebrate PRIDE Week at the university through Friday. A series of events is scheduled to raise awareness on campus and in the [. . . ] Robesonian, the (Lumberton, NC), 12 October 2007 Robesonian, the (Lumberton, NC), 12 October 2007 4% similarity to FNC 4% similarity to FNC About $18 billion a year has been drained from Africa by nearly two dozen wars in recent decades, a new report states, a price some officials say could’ve helped solve the AIDS crisis and created stronger economies in the world’s poorest region."This is money Africa can ill afford to lose," Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wrote in an introduction to the report by the British charity Oxfam and two groups that seek tougher controls on small arms, Saferworld [. . . ] Denver Examiner (CO), 26 September 2008 Denver Examiner (CO), 26 September 2008 5% similarity to FNC 5% similarity to FNC John McCain and Barack Obama will indeed debate tonight at 7 p.m at the University of Mississippi, moderated by Jim Lehrer. The debate is scheduled to focus on issues of foreign policy, but given the economic meltdown of the last two weeks, and the Bush administration’s proposed $700 billion bailout plan, Politico is reporting that Lehrer might add in some questions on the economy. Also, Rich Lowry from National Review is reporting that everyone at Ole Miss "hates" McCain for [...] Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA), 22 June 2006 Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA), 22 June 2006 6% similarity to FNC 6% similarity to FNC There is finally some good news about the most sinister drug on the black market: crystal methamphetamine. Nationwide demand and production is down, according to federal drug cops. Meth, which has been linked to the spread of HIV in Long Beach’s gay community, is still out there, but law enforcement officials say plenty of busts are reducing supplies. We hope that treatment is part of the equation nationwide as it is California, where voters agreed to put more users in treatment than in [. . . ] This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. available on arxiv Authors: (1) Philine Widmer, ETH Zürich and philine.widmer@gess.ethz.ch; (2) Sergio Galletta, ETH Zürich and sergio.galletta@gess.ethz.ch; (3) Elliott Ash, ETH Zürich and ashe@ethz.ch. Authors: Authors: (1) Philine Widmer, ETH Zürich and philine.widmer@gess.ethz.ch; (2) Sergio Galletta, ETH Zürich and sergio.galletta@gess.ethz.ch; (3) Elliott Ash, ETH Zürich and ashe@ethz.ch.

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