Working Paper: NBER ID: w14598
Authors: Riccardo Puglisi; James M. Snyder Jr.
Abstract: We analyze the coverage of U.S. political scandals by U.S. newspapers during the past decade. Using automatic keyword-based searches we collected data on 35 scandals and approximately 200 newspapers. We find that Democratic-leaning newspapers -- i.e., those with a higher propensity to endorse Democratic candidates in elections -- give relatively more coverage to scandals involving Republican politicians than scandals involving Democratic politicians, while Republican-leaning newspapers tend to do the opposite. This is true even when controlling for the average partisan leanings of readers. In contrast, newspapers appear to cater to the partisan tastes of readers only for local scandals.
Keywords: media bias; political scandals; newspaper coverage; partisan leanings
JEL Codes: D72; L82
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Partisan leanings of newspapers (D72) | Coverage of political scandals (D72) |
| Democratic-leaning newspapers (D72) | Coverage of Republican scandals (D72) |
| Republican-leaning newspapers (D72) | Coverage of Democratic scandals (D72) |
| Local scandals (K42) | Coverage influenced by demand-side factors (G52) |
| Average partisan leanings of readers (D72) | Coverage of political scandals (D72) |