Artículo de revista
Media and polarization Evidence from the introduction of broadcast TV in the United States
Fecha
2013Registro en:
Journal of Public Economics 100 (2013) 79–92
Autor
Campante, Filipe R.
Hojman Trujillo, Daniel
Institución
Resumen
This paper sheds light on the links between media and political polarization by looking at the introduction of
broadcast TV in the US. We provide causal evidence that broadcast TV decreased the ideological extremism of
US representatives.Wethen show that exposure to radiowas associated with decreased polarization.Weinterpret
this result by using a simple framework that identifies two channels linking media environment to politicians'
incentives to polarize. First, the ideology effect: changes in the media environment may affect the distribution of
citizens' ideological views, with politicians moving their positions accordingly. Second, the motivation effect: the
mediamay affect citizens' politicalmotivation, changing the ideological composition of the electorate and thereby
impacting elite polarization while mass polarization is unchanged. The evidence on polarization and turnout is
consistent with a prevalence of the ideology effect in the case of TV, as both of them decreased. Increased turnout
associated with radio exposure is in turn consistent with a role for the motivation effect.