Frames of Nationalization: Conflict, Party Labels, and National Figures in Local News and its Impact on Affective Polarization

In an era of heightened political polarization, news content may play a critical role in shaping public attitudes toward partisan groups. Local journalism is changing, raising questions about whether it can continue to play a moderating role in attitudes towards polarization. To investigate these changes, I first conduct a content analysis of local newspaper coverage, showing that conflict frames, partisan labels, and references to national political figures have become increasingly prevalent in recent years. I then draw on an original survey experiment (N = 3,825) to test how these specific features of coverage shape affective polarization. The results reveal that stories framed around partisan conflict significantly increase affective polarization among Democrats but not Republicans, while party labels and elite references exert little measurable effect. Together, these findings highlight the importance of conflict as a driver of polarization and underscore the challenges facing local news as its content becomes more nationalized.