The Destabilizing Effects of Local Newspaper Market Decline

• In Event: Information and Accountability

Abstract

What are the political effects of increasing consolidation in the market for local news? We develop a theoretical framework according to which regional media diversity positively affects the accuracy of political information and reduces polarization of voter preferences. To test this argument, we are drawing on a novel panel dataset containing information on the coverage areas, readership rate, and market exit or entry of every German newspaper since 1980. Using a difference in differences design, we then analyze the causal effect of decreasing diversity in the market for local news on polarization and indicators of political knowledge. Our findings inform current debates around changes in the media landscape and suggest that disappearing local media diversity is a phenomenon which reinforces the rural-urban political divides that challenge democracy.

Authors

• Fabio Ellger, WZB Berlin Social Science Center

• Hanno Hilbig, Harvard University

• Sascha Riaz, Harvard University