LAME DUCKS AND THE MEDIA

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Latham, Oliver
• 署名单位: University of Cambridge
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12208
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 1918-1951
• 关键词: count data models; BIAS; BEHAVIOR; MARKET; panel

摘要

Do media organisations turn on unpopular governments and, if so, why? I model a demand-side and supply-side explanation and derive testable implications that can be used to differentiate between them. I take these predictions to the data by examining whether British newspapers give more coverage to investigations into government members of parliament when the government is behind in the polls. Instrumenting for poll leads with plausibly-exogenous macroeconomic variables I find that a 1 SD increase in a government's poll lead leads to a 30-60% decline in coverage. I also find suggestive evidence that this effect is demand driven.