Citation

Discussion Paper Details

Please find the details for DP7684 in an easy to copy and paste format below:

Full Details   |   Bibliographic Reference

Full Details

Title: Watchdog or Lapdog? Media and the U.S. Government

Author(s): Nancy Qian and David Yangagizawa

Publication Date: February 2010

Keyword(s): Development, Media and Political Economy

Programme Area(s): Development Economics

Abstract: Abstract This paper investigates the extent to which strategic objectives of the U.S. government influenced news coverage during the Cold War. We establish two relationships: 1) strategic objectives of the U.S. government cause the State Department to under-report human rights violations of strategic allies; and 2) these objectives reduce news coverage of human rights abuses for strategic allies in six U.S. national newspapers. To establish causality, we exploit plausibly exogenous variation in a country's strategic value to the U.S. from the interaction of its political alliance to the U.S. and membership on the United Nations Security Council. In addition to the main results, we are able to provide qualitative evidence and indirect quantitative evidence to shed light on the mechanisms underlying the reduced form effects.

For full details and related downloads, please visit: https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=7684

Bibliographic Reference

Qian, N and Yangagizawa, D. 2010. 'Watchdog or Lapdog? Media and the U.S. Government'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=7684