The Impact of Enhancing Local Political Election News on Political Knowledge and Participation

• In Event: Influencing the Vote

Abstract

This study seeks to explore how reading local newspapers affect political knowledge and political participation, and what the impact is of an enhanced newspaper coverage of local elections. Earlier literature has established that exposure to newspapers, radio, TV, online news and campaign material positively affects levels of political knowledge and participation among users. These studies have primarily focused on federal or state level politics, but this paper concentrates on the impact of local media use on local-level politics. In an experiment, three small town newspapers increased their coverage of the April 2014 municipal elections, and the effect was tested by a survey conducted over two waves in 2013 and 2014 (N=1761). Newspaper readership was found to positively predict both knowledge about local politics and a greater likelihood of voting in municipal elections. However, the enhanced coverage did not increase either knowledge or participation among the voters.

Authors

• Scott Swafford, U of Missouri

• Mikkel Soelberg Christensen, Missouri School of Journalism, University of Missouri

• Esther Thorson, U of Missouri