The Watchdog Effect: How the News Shapes State and Local Politics in an Era of Media Decline

Summary How, and why, do the news media contribute to democratic representation and political accountability? In this in-progress book manuscript, I show that the attention that local news pays to state and local politics meaningfully contributes to high-quality representation in these domains, even in an era when very few citizens read or watch the news. The classic explanation for this relationship is that news coverage informs voters who are better able to hold politicians accountable in elections. However, I present new evidence that the media shape elite behavior through more direct channels: By acting as close monitors (or "watchdogs") of politicians, journalists increase the perceived costs of poor representation. I test this using large datasets of local news coverage and political activity, as well as elite experiments. First, I construct a large dataset combining media coverage and electoral behavior and show that the effects of coverage on voter behavior are minimal-to-null at the levels of state and local politics. I also present the results of novel experiments on elected officials, which show how politicians respond to close watchdog reporting by local press in their communities.