What Viewers Want: Assessing the Impact of Host Bias on Viewer Engagement with Political Talk Shows

Abstract

How do different types of host partisanship affect viewers of political talk shows? An experiment replicated on 2 age cohorts examines how different manifestations of partisanship in the cable news environment —explicit partisanship in which the host makes clear his views, and implicit partisanship in which the host gives more time to the guest on 1 side of an argument—affect viewers’ engagement with and credibility assessment of the program. While adults find congruent partisan news hosts more engaging and credible but are unaffected by subtler partisanship, young adults find congruent partisan news hosts more engaging but not more credible, and their perceptions of credibility are affected by subtle partisanship. This may help explain why partisan hosts proliferate but still invite guests from both sides of the aisle.

Notes

1. Although we were concerned the subtler version of partisanship might be harder for participants to notice, manipulation checks confirm that participants were aware of the distribution of time between guests. When adult respondents saw Larry (the liberal guest) get more time, they were a 5.83 on a scale rating his time (all scales 0 almost no time to 10 almost the entire time), compared to respondents who saw an even split (5.43) or saw the conservative get more time (4.88). Likewise for a question asking how much time David (the conservative guest) received: respondents who saw him actually receive more time were higher (5.52) than were respondents who saw an even split (5.29) or saw the other guest get more time (4.85). This pattern is repeated for the young adult sample. When they saw Larry (the liberal guest) get more time, they were a 6.05 on this scale, compared to respondents who saw an even split (4.76) or saw the conservative get more time (3.98). Likewise for a question asking how much time David (the conservative guest) received: respondents who saw him actually receive more time were higher (6.03) than were respondents who saw an even split (5.09) or saw the other guest get more time (3.78).

2. For example, Pew found 57% of Americans were against changing the U.S. Constitution to prevent children of illegal immigrants from obtaining citizenship, compared with 56% in June 2010 and 54% in March 2006.

3. Full pre-test results including means available upon request from authors.

4. A sample script and video are available at www.blindreview.net/62622011.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Leticia Bode

Leticia Bode (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) is an associate professor at Georgetown University. Her research interests include new media and politics, misinformation correction, and political socialization.

Emily K. Vraga

Emily K. Vraga (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at George Mason University. Her research focuses on how individuals process news and information about contentious political, scientific, and health issues, particularly in response to disagreeable messages they encounter in digital media environments.

German Alvarez

German Alvarez (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin) is a post-doctoral fellow at the Technology and Information Policy Institute in the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas. His research interests include political communication, social media, and public opinion.

Courtney N. Johnson

Courtney N. Johnson (Ph.D., University of Washington) is a public opinion researcher in Washington, D.C. Her research interests include the evolving role, practice, and values of professional journalism in democratic societies, as well as comparative international public opinion.

Magda Konieczna

Magda Konieczna (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) is a professor of journalism at Temple University. Her research interests include the future of public service journalism.

Michael Mirer

Michael Mirer (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is a visiting assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests include the evolution of journalistic professionalism, sports media, and brand content.