When Do Politicians React to Media Reports? A Political Agenda-Setting Experiment

• In Event: The News Media and the Strategic Behaviour of Political Actors

Abstract

Many studies have shown how the media can influence the political agenda. Little is however known about how those findings transfer to the individual level. What aspects of a media report makes a politician take political action? Are findings from aggregate-level studies applicable to the individual level? This paper presents evidence from an experiment with current members of the Swiss Lower House (N=54). MPs were asked to indicate for a set of fictional news reports whether they would take political action. Results point to the importance of party strategic considerations. Party issue ownership has a stronger influence than a MPs’ specialization. MPs are also more likely to react to negative developments and respectable media outlets. No evidence of an influence of responsibility attributions made by the media was however found. Implications for the mediatization of politics are discussed.

Author

• Luzia Helfer, Leiden University