Displacement, Not Obstruction: Why Insecure Leaders Need Not Fear Free Media

Afiq bin Oslan and Ipek Ece Sener

Working Papers from Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance

Abstract: Leaders from across the political spectrum are often accused of manipulating the media to their benefit. Contemporary developments have proliferated the number of media sources available to citizens. We argue that new, independent media sources may actually be a boon for leaders looking to control information. Using a simple formal model, we demonstrate a phenomenon of “displacement†—where the presence of alter- native sources of information can actually encourage states to manipulate information. This is because alternative media sources mean that states only need to divert citizen attention without employing full obstruction, reducing the necessary effort expended. This result advances our understanding of how the contemporary state navigates an increasingly complex media landscape. We supplement the model with case studies on the media policies of Malaysian and Turkish governments.

Keywords: public opinion; accountability; media; game theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24
Date: 2023-12-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pol and nep-sea
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