The Electric Telegraph, News Coverage, and Political Participation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: University of Toronto; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050725000026
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 1-32
• 关键词: voting-behavior; newspaper entry; voter turnout; INFORMATION; MARKET; STATES; matter; WORLD; press

摘要

This paper uses newly digitized data on the growth of the telegraph network in America during 1840-1852 to study the impacts of the electric telegraph on national elections. Exploiting the expansion of the telegraph network in a difference-in-difference approach, I find that access to telegraphed news from Washington significantly increased voter turnout in national elections. Newspapers facilitated the dissemination of national news to local areas. Text analysis on historical newspapers shows that the improved access to news from Washington led local newspapers to cover more national political news, including coverage of Congress, the presidency, and sectional divisions involving slavery.