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The Influence of News Media on Political Elites: Investigating Strategic Responsiveness in Congress

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  • Kevin Arceneaux
  • Martin Johnson
  • René Lindstädt
  • Ryan J. Vander Wielen

Abstract

News media play a central role in democratic politics, yet we know little about how media affect the behavior of policy makers. To understand the conditions under which news media influence political elites, we advance a theory of strategic responsiveness, which contends that elected representatives are more likely to heed their constituents' preferences when voters are attentive. Accordingly, news media's influence on legislative behavior should be most apparent near elections and dependent on the partisan composition of the constituency. We capitalize on the incremental rollout of the conservative Fox News Channel in the late 1990s to evaluate our theoretical predictions. Fox News caused both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to increase support for the Republican Party position on divisive votes, but only in the waning months of the election cycle and among those members who represent districts with a sizable portion of Republican voters.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin Arceneaux & Martin Johnson & René Lindstädt & Ryan J. Vander Wielen, 2016. "The Influence of News Media on Political Elites: Investigating Strategic Responsiveness in Congress," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 60(1), pages 5-29, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:60:y:2016:i:1:p:5-29
    DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12171
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    Cited by:

    1. Garz, Marcel & Maaß, Sabrina, 2021. "Cartels in the European Union, antitrust action, and public attention," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 533-547.
    2. Kevin Arceneaux & Johanna Dunaway & Martin Johnson & Ryan J. Vander Wielen, 2020. "Strategic Candidate Entry and Congressional Elections in the Era of Fox News," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(2), pages 398-415, April.
    3. Jetter, Michael & Walker, Jay K., 2022. "News coverage and mass shootings in the US," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    4. Stefanie K. Gratale & Angeline Sangalang & Erin K. Maloney & Joseph N. Cappella, 2019. "Attitudinal Spillover from Misleading Natural Cigarette Marketing: An Experiment Examining Current and Former Smokers’ Support for Tobacco Industry Regulation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-13, September.
    5. Neimanns, Erik & Blossey, Nils, 2022. "From media-party linkages to ownership concentration causes of cross-national variation in media outlets' economic positioning," MPIfG Discussion Paper 22/8, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    6. Aina Gallego & Nikolas Schöll & Gaël Le Mens, 2021. "Politician-citizen interactions and dynamic representation: Evidence from Twitter," Economics Working Papers 1769, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

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