Television Coverage and Political Voice: Evidence from Parliamentary Question Hour in India

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effect of television coverage on political voice by examining the functioning of Question Hour, a forum for political discussion in India's Parliament. Question Hour is intended to foster government accountability to the people by allowing Members of Parliament to raise questions about issues of concern to the electorate which the Government must answer. However, it can only fulfil these aims if MPs effectively represent their constituents' concerns. I use an unusual source of variation in the telecast status of Question Hour, made possible by the fact that it was only shown on television every other week, to assess what effect television coverage had. I find that MPs did not become more likely to represent the concerns of the voters in their constituency, and that electoral pressures, which might motivate them to do so, did not explain which MPs participated in the televised discussion. Rather, I find that television increased the voice of nationally prominent politicians and relatively elite, urban voters. I argue that this is consistent with television's comparative advantage for the political establishment lying in its ability to allow politicians or parties to promote themselves to an elite television audience rather than as a means for MPs to appeal to voters in their home constituencies. By looking at the position and progress of MPs' careers within political parties, which play a central role in Indian politics, I argue that the evidence is consistent with party establishments picking prominent members of their party to speak on television. This meant a reduction in the voice of ordinary MPs who did not hold important posts within the government or the party. Because this also happened within the ruling party, whose leaders were in fact the Ministers supposedly being held to account, I argue that Question Hour's effectiveness as an institution of accountability may have been hampered by television coverage.

Keywords: political representation, mass media, television, voting, political parties

JEL Classification: P16