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American Economic Review Vol. 96 No. 3 2006

Handcuffs for the Grabbing Hand? Media Capture and Government Accountability

Timothy Besley; Andrea Prat

Department of Economics and STICERD, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE.

open access

Abstract

It has long been recognized that the media play an essential role in government accountability. Even in the absence of censorship, however, the government may influence news content by maintaining a “cozy” relationship with the media. This paper develops a model of democratic politics in which media capture is endogenous. The model offers insights into the features of the media market that determine the ability of the government to exercise such capture and hence to influence political outcomes.

DOI
10.1257/aer.96.3.720
Volume
96
Issue
3
Pages
720-736
Language
en
Sources
crossref openalex bibtex:phds-export.bib bibtex:phds-export.bib

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