Anti-Muslim Voting and Media Coverage of Immigrant Crimes

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Couttenier, Mathieu; Hatte, Sophie; Thoenig, Mathias; Vlachos, Stephanos
• 署名单位: Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon (ENS de LYON); University of Lausanne; University of Vienna
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01152
• 发表日期: 2024-03
• 页码: 576-585
• 关键词: issue ownership; newspaper entry; COMPETITION; press; VOTE

摘要

We study how news coverage of immigrant criminality impacts voting in one of the most controversial referendums in recent years-the 2009 Swiss minaret ban. We combine a comprehensive crime detection data set with detailed information on newspaper coverage. We first document a large upward distortion in media reporting of immigrant crime during the prereferendum period. Exploiting quasi-random variations in crime incidence, we find a positive first-order effect of news coverage on support for the ban. Our quantification shows that, in absence of the media bias, the pro-ban vote would have decreased from 57.6% to 53.5% at the national level.