Does the media matter? A field experiment measuring the effect of newspapers on voting behavior and political opinions

Alan S. Gerber; Dean Karlan; Daniel Bergan

doi:10.1257/app.1.2.35

Does the media matter? A field experiment measuring the effect of newspapers on voting behavior and political opinions

Alan S. Gerber^*, Dean Karlan, Daniel Bergan

^*Corresponding author for this work

Finance

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271 Scopus citations

Abstract

We conducted a field experiment to measure the effect of exposure to newspapers on political behavior and opinion. Before the 2005 Virginia gubernatorial election, we randomly assigned individuals to a Washington Post free subscription treatment, a Washington Times free subscription treatment, or a control treatment. We find no effect of either paper on political knowledge, stated opinions, or turnout in post-election survey and voter data. However, receiving either paper led to more support for the Democratic candidate, suggesting that media slant mattered less in this case than media exposure. Some evidence from voting records also suggests that receiving either paper led to increased 2006 voter turnout.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	35-52
Number of pages	18
Journal	American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
Volume	1
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1257/app.1.2.35
State	Published - Apr 2009

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Economics, Econometrics and Finance(all)

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Does the media matter? A field experiment measuring the effect of newspapers on voting behavior and political opinions

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