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The Usual Suspects: Offender Origin, Media Reporting and Natives’ Attitudes Towards Immigration

Author

Listed:
  • Sekou Keita
  • Thomas Renault
  • Jérôme Valette

Abstract

This paper analyses whether the systematic disclosure of criminals’ origins in the press affects natives’ attitudes towards immigration. It takes advantage of the unilateral change in reporting policy announced by the German newspaper Sächsische Zeitung in July 2016. Combining individual-level panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel from 2014 to 2018 with 402,819 crime-related articles in German newspapers and those newspapers’ market shares, we find that systematically mentioning the origins of criminals increases the relative salience of natives’ criminality and reduces natives’ concerns about immigration, breaking the implicit link between immigration and crime.

Suggested Citation

  • Sekou Keita & Thomas Renault & Jérôme Valette, 2023. "The Usual Suspects: Offender Origin, Media Reporting and Natives’ Attitudes Towards Immigration," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(657), pages 322-362.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:econjl:v:134:y:2023:i:657:p:322-362.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ej/uead059
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    Cited by:

    1. Ghazaryan, Armine & Giulietti, Corrado & Wahba, Jackline, 2022. "Terror headlines and voting," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    2. Sarah Schneider-Strawczynski & Jérôme Valette, 2025. "Media Coverage of Immigration and the Polarization of Attitudes," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 337-368, January.
    3. Manzoni, Elena & Murard, Elie & Quercia, Simone & Tonini, Sara, 2024. "News, Emotions, and Policy Views on Immigration," IZA Discussion Papers 17017, IZA Network @ LISER.
    4. Farukh, Razi & Heinz, Matthias & Kerkhof, Anna & Schumacher, Heiner, 2025. "Attitudes to migration and the market for news," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    5. Han, Jiajun & Zhang, Yuan, 2025. "Education and tolerance towards Homosexuality—Evidence from China," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    6. Liyao Xiao & Fufeng Chu & Jingjing Mao & Jiaxin Yang & Ziyu Liu, 2024. "How Does New Media Shape the Sense of Belonging and Social Identity? The Social and Psychological Processes of Sustainable Successful Reintegration for Rehabilitated People," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-17, September.
    7. Birkholz, Carlo & Gomtsyan, David, 2023. "Immigrant religious practices and criminality: The case of Ramadan," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 90-104.
    8. Silvia Peracchi, 2022. "The Migration Crisis in the Local News: Evidence from the French-Italian Border," CESifo Working Paper Series 10070, CESifo.
    9. Kai Gehring & Joop Age Harm Adema & Panu Poutvaara, 2022. "Immigrant Narratives," CESifo Working Paper Series 10026, CESifo.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media

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