Independent Media, Propaganda, and Religiosity: Evidence from Poland

Grosfeld, Irena; Madinier, Etienne; Sakalli, Seyhun Orcan; Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3863387

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Independent Media, Propaganda, and Religiosity: Evidence from Poland

132 Pages Posted: 10 Jun 2021 Last revised: 18 May 2023

See all articles by Irena Grosfeld

Ekaterina Zhuravskaya

Paris School of Economics (PSE)

There are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: June 9, 2021

Abstract

Exploring a drastic change in the media landscape in Poland, we show that mainstream media
can significantly affect religious participation. After the nationalist populist party PiS came to
power in 2015, news on state and private independent TV diverged due to propaganda on
state TV, resulting in a switch of some of its audience to independent TV. Municipalities
with access to independent TV continued to follow a long-term secularization trend, while
municipalities with access only to state TV experienced a reversal of this trend. An online
experiment sheds light on the mechanisms underlying the effect of exposure to independent
news on religiosity.

Keywords: Religion, Media, Propaganda, Populism, Catholic Church, Poland

JEL Classification: P00, Z12, L82

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Grosfeld, Irena and Madinier, Etienne and Sakalli, Seyhun Orcan and Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina, Independent Media, Propaganda, and Religiosity: Evidence from Poland (June 9, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3863387 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3863387