Content by: Wendy Busse-Coleman | The Back Page Blog | October 12, 2026 | 4 Minute Read

Let me start with a confession. I have yelled at my television. More than once.

Sometimes before my coffee.

You’ve probably seen it too. You watch a story, then switch channels and see the same event told so differently that you start wondering if they’re even talking about the same planet. It’s hard not to ask: is the news just reporting what happened, or is it quietly shaping how we vote?

I wanted to know what the research actually shows, not what somebody's opinion says. So, I went looking. Here's what I found, in plain English, with the sources at the bottom so you can check me.

Spoiler: this isn't about which side is right. It's about what's right. And what's right is that you deserve the whole story. 

The News Picks What We Think About

Here's a fun fact for North Carolinians.

One of the most famous studies on this topic was done at Chapel Hill, back in 1968.

Two journalism professors asked undecided voters which issues mattered most in that year's presidential race. Then they compared the answers to what local news was covering. The lists matched up closely.

Their big takeaway still holds today: the news may not always tell us what to think, but it is very good at telling us what to think about. That finding has been repeated hundreds of times around the world. 

Think about that for a second. If a story never makes the news, it never makes your worry list. And if it never makes your worry list, it probably doesn't make it into the voting booth with you.

Slanted News Can Shift Votes, a Little

Researchers found a pretty clever way to test this. When Fox News first showed up on cable in the late 1990s, some towns got it while others didn’t, mostly by chance.

In the towns that got it, Republican candidates picked up about half a percentage point in the 2000 presidential race. That might not sound like much, but across the country, it added up to roughly 200,000 votes. And as many of us remember, the 2000 election came down to just a few hundred votes in Florida.

Later studies found the effect grew over time and showed up in Senate, House, and governor races too. The people most likely to shift weren't die-hard partisans. They were folks in the middle.

Now, before anyone grabs the remote to throw it, here's the important part.

Both Sides Leave Things Out

In 2020, two professors tried something I love. They paid regular Fox News viewers $15/hour to watch CNN instead for one month. They even gave them little quizzes to make sure nobody was napping.

The result? The viewers learned facts they hadn't heard before, and some of their views on current events shifted. They didn't change parties. They didn't change their core values. They just knew more.

The researchers gave this a name: 'partisan coverage filtering.' In plain language, that means a network shows you the stories that help its side and quietly skips the rest.

And they made it clear that this wasn’t a one-sided thing. CNN did it too. For example, Fox covered a major Middle East peace agreement about fifteen times more than CNN did.

Here’s the part that made me laugh and cringe a little at the same time: once the month ended and the payments stopped, most people went straight back to their usual channel. Within two months, the extra views had pretty much disappeared. 

Turns out, we humans really love our comfy chair and our familiar channel.

Losing Local News Makes Us More Divided

This one hit home for me.

When a town loses its local newspaper, people there become more likely to vote straight party ticket. One study found split-ticket voting dropped by 1.9% in counties that lost a paper. 

Why? Without local reporters covering local candidates, people lean on national news and party labels. Your county commissioner stops being Bob who fixed the stoplight on Main Street and becomes just a letter after a name. 

Local news keeps candidates human. I think that's worth protecting.

So, What Does This Mean for You and Me?

Here's the honest, calm version:

• The news rarely flips anyone's whole belief system. Most of us are not that easy to push around. Thank goodness.
• It works at the edges. Small shifts among undecided voters can decide close federal elections.
• What's left out matters as much as what's said. A story that is cut short or never aired shapes us quietly.
• None of it is permanent. Change what you watch and read, and what you know changes too.

That last one is the good news. You are not stuck. You have more power here than any network does. 

6 Simple Ways to Protect Your Vote From One-Sided News

1. Try a "news swap" once a week. Spend 20 minutes with a source you don't usually pick. You don't have to agree. Just listen.
2. Ask, "What's missing?" When a story feels one-sided look up the same event somewhere else.
3. Watch the full clip. If a video is 12 seconds long and everyone is furious, there's probably more to it.
4. Read the headline AND the story. Headlines are written to grab you. The facts are usually further down.
5. Support your local paper or local news station. Subscribe, share their stories, or just tell them thank you.
6. Look for the original source. A study, a court filing, a full speech. Go to the horse's mouth when you can.

The Last Word

I'm 66 years old. I've watched the news change from three channels and a newspaper on the porch to a thousand voices shouting from my phone.

Here’s what hasn’t changed: we all deserve the full picture. That’s one big reason I wrote and published “The Fact Check Guide.” Not half of it. Not the part that makes one team feel good. The whole thing.

So be curious. Be a little stubborn. Check twice before you share. Your vote is yours, and the more you know, the more it truly belongs to you. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go apologize to my television.