谁来监督监督者？地方新闻与美国警察行为
Who Watches the Watchmen? Local News and Police Behavior in the United States
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy · 2025 · [{"name": "Nicola Mastrorocco", "affiliation": ["University of Bologna"]}, {"name": "Arianna Ornaghi", "affiliation": ["Hertie School"]}]
中文摘要
美国市政警察部门是否会对本地犯罪的新闻报道做出回应？我们利用大型广播集团辛克莱（Sinclair）收购地方电视台所带来的本地犯罪报道外生冲击来回答这一问题。基于一个包含850万条新闻报道的独特数据集，并采用三重差分设计，我们发现辛克莱的所有权导致本地犯罪新闻报道减少。这一发现对警务工作具有重要意义：与未经历新闻报道变化的市镇相比，经历了这一变化的市镇暴力犯罪破案率更低。该结果与犯罪在公众舆论中受关注程度下降的解释相一致。（JEL D83, G34, H76, K42, L13, L82）
Abstract
Do US municipal police departments respond to news coverage of local crime? We address this question exploiting an exogenous shock to local crime reporting induced by acquisitions of local TV stations by a large broadcast group, Sinclair. Using a unique dataset of 8.5 million news stories and a triple-differences design, we document that Sinclair ownership decreases news coverage of local crime. This matters for policing: Municipalities that experience the change in news coverage have lower violent crime clearance rates relative to municipalities that do not. The result is consistent with a decrease of crime salience in the public opinion. (JEL D83, G34, H76, K42, L13, L82)