Who Watches the Watchmen? Local News and Police Behavior in the United States

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mastrorocco, Nicola; Ornaghi, Arianna
• 署名单位: University of Bologna; Hertie School
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20230356
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 285-318
• 关键词: media; ACCOUNTABILITY; coverage; ELITES; cops; BIAS

摘要

Do US municipal police departments respond to news coverage of local crime? We address this question exploiting an exogenous shock to local crime reporting induced by acquisitions of local TV stations by a large broadcast group, Sinclair. Using a unique dataset of 8.5 million news stories and a triple-differences design, we document that Sinclair ownership decreases news coverage of local crime. This matters for policing: Municipalities that experience the change in news coverage have lower violent crime clearance rates relative to municipalities that do not. The result is consistent with a decrease of crime salience in the public opinion. (JEL D83, G34, H76, K42, L13, L82)