National or local infodemic? The demand for news in Italy during COVID-19

Stefano Castriota (), Marco Delmastro and Mirco Tonin
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Stefano Castriota: University of Pisa

International Journal of Health Economics and Management, 2023, vol. 23, issue 4, No 1, 507-536

Abstract: Abstract Information can have an important impact on health behavior and, according to the World Health Organization, an ‘infodemic’ has accompanied the current pandemic. Observing TV news viewership in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic using actual consumption data, we investigate whether demand for national and local news depends on national or local epidemiological developments, as measured by the number of new positives or the number of current positives on any given day. Exploiting the fact that the impact of the pandemic displays a great deal of variation among the different regions, we find that at the regional level, demand for both national and local news responds to national epidemiological developments rather than to local ones. This has implications regarding the incentives for local politicians to take preventive action.

Keywords: News; Local news; TV; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 I19 L82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s10754-023-09350-3

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