Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The proliferation of national news media plays a crucial role in informing constituents about their elected officials. Over the past decade research has found compelling effects of news media outlets on voting, voter turnout, and voter information. However, research investigating biased news’s effect on campaign finance and legislative behavior is scarce. This study estimates the impact of a biased news source, the Fox News Channel, on pecuniary campaign contributions, policy outcomes, and legislative behavior of office holders. A difference- in-difference approach is used to examine whether the introduction of the Fox News Channel affected monetary contributions collected by House candidates, the amount of federal funds brought into districts by elected representatives, and the number of witness appearances for congressional hearings, respectively. The findings suggest that exposure to the Fox News Channel affected monetary contributions collected by House Candidates. Our results show that initial Fox News exposure lowered the amounts of contributions from individuals to Republican candidates. We also see a decrease in individual contributions to Democratic candidates that faced a larger proportion of cable subscribers with access to Fox News. We then find that once elected, prolonged exposure to Fox News within a congressional district causes Democrats to increase number of witness appearances before budgetary congressional hearings and procure fewer funds for areas within their districts with a Fox News presence.