Media markets and politicians involved in scandals

Abstract

In this paper, I study whether TV coverage helps voters punish politicians involved in a scandal. Specifically, I compare the vote shares of U.S. senators implicated in scandals from 1970 through 2000 in two different types of media markets: in-state and out-of-state. An in-state media market is centered in a given state, and an out-of-state is located outside a given state. Therefore, the media consumers in an out-of-state media market receive news contents that focus on neighboring states' politicians. I find that U.S. senators implicated in scandals receive smaller vote share in in-state media markets. The results suggest that better access to political news helps voters make more informed decisions. (C) 2016 Western Social Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.