Download This PaperSilence the Media or the Story? Theory and Evidence of Media Capture
49 Pages Posted: 15 Apr 2020 Last revised: 15 Jan 2021
Date Written: March 1, 2020
Abstract
We explore a theory of media capture where a principal can either influence journalistic investigation (internal capture) or let the media investigate and pay to suppress news stories at the publication stage (external capture). We predict that the likelihood of internal capture increases with perceived corruption. Conversely, external capture decreases with perceived corruption if the media market is not sufficiently developed. We study a sample of 169 countries between 2012 and 2018, using new survey data collected by Reporters Without Borders and a set of corruption indicators. We use the revelation of the Panama Papers as a shock to perceived corruption. With a difference-in-differences identification strategy based on cross-country variation in exposure to the shock, we find support for our two theoretical predictions.
Keywords: Media, Media capture, Corruption, Panama Papers
JEL Classification: D73, L82
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation