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American Economic Review Vol. 99 No. 5 2009

Media Markets and Localism: Does Local News en Español Boost Hispanic Voter Turnout?

Felix Oberholzer‐Gee1; Joel Waldfogel2

1 Strategy Unit, Harvard Business School, Soldiers Field, Boston, MA 02163. · 2 Business and Public Policy, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104.

Abstract

In the past decade Americans have increasingly turned their attention to nonlocal information sources, raising concerns about disengagement from local communities. Regulation sometimes seeks to curtail the integration of media markets through the promotion of “localism.” This paper examines the role of local media. We make use of the rapid growth of Hispanic communities in the United States to test whether the presence of local television news affects local civic behavior. We find that Hispanic voter turnout increased by 5 to 10 percentage points, relative to non-Hispanic turnout, in markets where Spanish-language local television news became available.

DOI
10.1257/aer.99.5.2120
Volume
99
Issue
5
Pages
2120-2128
Language
en
Sources
openalex bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref

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