Who Watches the Watchmen? Local News and Police Behavior in the United States

Nicola Mastrorocco and Arianna Ornaghi

No 17756, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Do U.S. municipal police departments respond to news coverage of local crime? We address this question exploiting an exogenous shock to local crime reporting induced by acquisitions of local TV stations by a large broadcast group, Sinclair. Using a unique dataset of 8.5 million news stories and a triple differences design, we document that Sinclair ownership decreases news coverage of local crime. This matters for policing: municipalities that experience the change in news coverage have lower violent crime clearance rates relative to municipalities that do not. The result is consistent with a decrease of crime salience in the public opinion.

Keywords: Police; Ownership concentration; Local news; Political responsiveness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D73 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-12
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Working Paper: Who Watches the Watchmen? Local News and Police Behavior in the United States (2020)
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