Opposition Media, State Censorship, and Political Accountability: Evidence from Chavez’s Venezuela
[ad_1]
No AccessPoverty ReductionMay 2022
This study investigates the effects of state censorship in the context of the 2007 government closing of RCTV, a popular opposition television channel in Venezuela. Some parts of the country had access to a second opposition channel, Globovision, while other parts completely lost access to opposition television. The first finding, based upon ratings data, is that viewership fell on the progovernment replacement, following the closing of RCTV, but rose on Globovision in areas with access to the signal. Based upon this switching, the paper investigates whether support for Chavez fell in areas that retained access to opposition television, relative to those that completely lost access. Using three measures, Latinbarometer survey data, electoral returns, and data on protest activity, the second finding is that support for Chavez fell in municipalities that retained access to opposition television, relative to municipalities that lost access to opposition television. Taken together, these two findings suggest that voters switching from censored outlets to uncensored outlets can limit the effectiveness of state censorship.
References
- . 2015. “Radio and the Rise of the Nazis in Pre-War Germany.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 130 (4): 1885–939. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2002. “The Political Economy of Government Responsiveness: Theory and Evidence from India.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 117 (4): 1415–51. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2006. “Handcuffs for the Grabbing Hand? Media Capture and Government Accountability.” American Economic Review 96 (3): 720–36. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2019. “The Impact of Media Censorship: 1984 or Brave New World?” American Economic Review 109 (6): 2294–332. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2011. “Media Bias and Influence: Evidence from Newspaper Endorsements.” Review of Economic Studies 78 (3): 795–820. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2011. Dragon in the Tropics: Hugo Chavez and the Political Economy of Revolution in Venezuela. Washington, DC: Brookings Latin America Initiative Books. Google Scholar
- . 2007. “The Fox News Effect: Media Bias and Voting.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 122 (3): 1187–234. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2011. “Government Advertising and Media Coverage of Corruption Scandals.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 3 (4): 119–51. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- 2012. “The Chavez Government and the Battle over the Media in Venezuela.” Asian Journal of Latin American Studies 25 (2): 27–53. Google Scholar
- . 2012. “Partisan Control, Media Bias, and Viewer Responses: Evidence from Berlusconi’s Italy.” Journal of the European Economic Association 10 (3): 451–81. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2019. “The Political Legacy of Entertainment TV.” American Economic Review 109 (7): 2497–530. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2020. “Social Media and Protest Participation: Evidence from Russia.” Econometrica 88 (4): 1479–1514. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2011. “Media and Political Persuasion: Evidence from Russia.” American Economic Review 101 (7): 3253–85. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
European Union Election Observation Mission . 2006. “Final Report: Presidential Elections Venezuela 2006.” Technical report, European Union Election Observation Mission. Google Scholar- . 2008. “Exposing Corrupt Politicians: The Effects of Brazil’s Publicly Released Audits on Electoral Outcomes.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 123 (2): 703–45. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2011. “Electoral Accountability and Corruption: Evidence from the Audits of Local Governments.” American Economic Review 101 (4): 1274–1311. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2014. “Government Control of the Media.” Journal of Public Economics 118 (C): 163–71. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2010. “What Drives Media Slant? Evidence from US Daily Newspapers.” Econometrica 78 (1): 35–71. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2011. “The Effect of Newspaper Entry and Exit on Electoral Politics.” American Economic Review 101 (7): 2980–3018. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2003. “Who Affects Whom in Daily Newspaper Markets?” Journal of Political Economy 111 (4): 765–84. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2009. “Does the Media Matter? A Field Experiment Measuring the Effect of Newspapers on Voting Behavior and Political Opinions.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 1 (2): 35–52. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2015. “How Modern Dictators Survive: An Informational Theory of the New Authoritarianism.” Working Paper 21136, Technical report March, National Bureau of Economic Research. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2018. “How Sudden Censorship Can Increase Access to Information.” American Political Science Review 112 (3): 621–36. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2011. “The Price of Political Opposition: Evidence from Venezuela’s Maisanta.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 3 (2): 196–214. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2013. “How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression.” American Political Science Review 107 (2): 326–43. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2019. “The Limits of Propaganda: Evidence from Chavez’s Venezuela.” Journal of the European Economic Association 17 (2): 567–605. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2018. “Opposition Media and Political Accountability: Evidence from Venezuela.” Working Paper. Google Scholar
- . 2017. “Bias in Cable News: Persuasion and Polarization.” American Economic Review 107 (9): 2565–99. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2019. “Local News and National Politics.” American Political Science Review 113 (2): 372–84. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2005. “The Market for News.” American Economic Review 95 (4): 1031–53. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- 2009. The Silence and the Scorpion: The Coup against Chavez and the Making of Modern Venezuela. New York: Nation Books. Google Scholar
- 2009. “Do Television and Radio Destroy Social Capital? Evidence from Indonesian Villages.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 1 (4): 1–33. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- 2018. “Media Power.” Journal of Political Economy 126 (4): 1747–83. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Reporters without Borders . 2003. “Venezuela: Caught between an Authoritarian President and an Intolerant Media.” Technical report, Reporters without Borders. Google Scholar- 2018. Censored: Distraction and Diversion inside China’s Great Firewall. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Google Scholar
- . 2015. “State Censorship.” American Economic Journal: Microeconomics 7 (2): 280–307. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2010. “Press Coverage and Political Accountability.” Journal of Political Economy 118 (2): 355–408. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2021. “Media Capture through Favor Exchange.” Econometrica 89 (1): 281–310. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
- . 2010. “Television in Venezuela: Who Dominates the Media?” Technical report, Center for Economic and Policy Research. Google Scholar
- 2007. Changing Venezuela by Taking Power: The History and Policies of the Chavez Government. London, England: Verso Books. Google Scholar
- 2014. “Propaganda and Conflict: Evidence from the Rwandan Genocide.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 129 (4): 1947–94. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
[ad_2]
Source link
