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Regulation of Speech and Media Coverage of Corruption: An Empirical Analysis of the Mexican Press
Author(s) -
Stanig Piero
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
american journal of political science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.347
H-Index - 170
eISSN - 1540-5907
pISSN - 0092-5853
DOI - 10.1111/ajps.12110
Subject(s) - freedom of the press , language change , legislation , media coverage , interpretation (philosophy) , political science , instrumental variable , affect (linguistics) , set (abstract data type) , content analysis , advertising , law , sociology , economics , business , media studies , econometrics , social science , linguistics , computer science , politics , philosophy , communication , programming language
Restrictions to media freedom, in the form of repressive defamation legislation, are thought to affect the amount of information about corruption that the media report. Exploiting variation in regulation of speech across states in a federal country, Mexico, and using a novel data set based on content analysis of the local press, I estimate the effect of lack of freedom on the coverage devoted to acts of malfeasance by public officials. Corruption receives significantly less attention in states with a more repressive defamation law. Instrumental variable models corroborate the interpretation of the negative association between regulation and coverage as a causal “chilling effect.”