Media’s role in the making of a democrat: Evidence from East Germany

Abstract

This paper explores the causal influence of media content on voting behavior. We exploit a natural experiment involving access to West German TV within the German Democratic Republic. Focusing on federal and state election outcomes in the post-reunification decade (i.e., a time at which TV content was harmonized), we find that municipalities that had access to Western TV broadcasts before reunification have lower vote shares for left-wing and right-wing extremist parties. With regard to potential channels, we provide evidence based on survey data that GDR citizens with access to West German TV were less loyal to the socialist regime, less hostile toward foreigners, and exhibited higher levels of social capital. Our findings thus support the notion that access to free media influences political attitudes and facilitates the consolidation of democracy.

The Political Legacy of Entertainment TV

“…The RAI-Mediaset duopoly was perpetuated by a new telecommunication law, approved by the Parliament in 1990, which largely confirmed the regulatory framework of the 1985 decree, and limited the possibility of assigning new broadcasting licenses to other operators. 6 Crucially, the Mediaset programming schedule differed dramatically from that of RAI. Mediaset aired more hours per day, focusing particularly on light entertainment; in contrast, it devoted very little time to educational content, and did not introduce newscasts until 1991.…”

Does Expert Information Affect Citizens' Attitudes Toward Corona Policies? Evidence from Germany

“…In addition, the communist government of Eastern Germany systematically disseminated false information (Bursztyn and Cantoni, 2016;Friehe et al, 2020). This portends that East Germans may be less receptive to change their views based on information about economic or health aspect of the pandemic.…”

How politics influence public good provision

“…Their vote share increases on average by 30% after a crisis. Friehe et al (2020) also study voting behaviour and find a significant negative impact of the availability of West German TV on the share of votes for extremist parties.…”