Media Coverage, Blame Attribution, and Trade-Related Policy Responses

• In Event: Talking About Markets

Abstract

Who is to blame when factories close or when there are mass layoffs? Whether it be the closing of an auto plant or the threatened off-shoring of the Carrier furnace factory, media reports frequently incorporate justifications -- or frames -- that provide context about the closure or layoffs. The most common frames often include foreign competition and trade policy, costly government policies, changing market conditions, or exogenous events such as the Covid-19 pandemic. We argue that such frames alter who the public holds responsible, which shapes the incentives of politicians while also affecting the public's preferred policy responses. We test the effect of media frames on the public's blame attribution and subsequent policy preferences using a survey experiment about General Motors factory closings in the United States and Canada. The results from a sample of almost 6,000 respondents in the US and Canada show that the public is quick to shift blame to the government, reducing blame to the company. We find that the media frames significantly shift support for trade policy in both countries, but the frames do not have an effect on domestic public assistance programs such as unemployment benefits or retraining and education programs.

Authors

• Alexandra Guisinger, Temple University

• Ryan Brutger, University of California, Berkeley