National content and local political consequences: Evidence from public and private television
中文摘要
我们考察了20世纪50年代初加拿大电视网络初步推广期间，公共电视与私营电视内容对政治参与和政治问责的影响。一项禁止市场竞争的政策使各选区只能接收公共电视节目或私营电视节目中的一种，从未同时接收两者。尽管两类电视台都播出公共广播机构的全国性节目，但私营电视台还将这一内容与地方新闻捆绑播出。我们发现，相对于没有电视的选区，接触公共广播机构的节目使选民投票率降低了2.1个百分点，而私营电视覆盖选区的政治参与度与电视普及前的水平难以区分。这种参与度的缺失削弱了连任激励，并扩大了在任者优势。因此，公共电视覆盖选区的在任议员在议会中较少谈论其选区事务，并在唱名表决中表现出更高的政党忠诚度——这些结果与政治问责的显著削弱相一致。
Abstract
We examine the impact of public versus private television content on political engagement and accountability during the initial rollout of Canada’s television network in the early 1950s. A policy prohibiting market competition restricted districts to receiving either public or private programming, but never both. While both station types aired the public broadcaster’s national service, private stations bundled this content with local news. We find that exposure to the public broadcaster reduced voter turnout by 2.1 percentage points relative to districts without television, while engagement in private television districts remained indistinguishable from pre-television levels. This lack of engagement weakened re-election incentives and increased the incumbency advantage. Consequently, incumbents in public districts spoke less about their constituencies in parliament and demonstrated greater party loyalty in roll-call votes—results consistent with a significant reduction in political accountability.