Data and Code for: Who Watches the Watchmen? Local News and Police Behavior in the United States
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Nicola Mastrorocco, University of Bologna; Arianna Ornaghi, Hertie School
Version: View help for Version V1
| Name | File Type | Size | Last Modified |
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| code | 08/23/2024 10:05:AM | ||
| data | 05/27/2024 06:30:AM | ||
| logs | 05/27/2024 06:29:AM | ||
| output | 05/27/2024 06:30:AM | ||
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application/pdf | 155.2 KB | 08/23/2024 06:08:AM |
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application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet | 17.4 KB | 08/23/2024 06:26:AM |
Project Citation:
Mastrorocco, Nicola, and Ornaghi, Arianna. Data and Code for: Who Watches the Watchmen? Local News and Police Behavior in the United States. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2025. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-04-02. https://doi.org/10.3886/E202421V1
Project Description
Summary:
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Do U.S. 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.
Scope of Project
Subject Terms:
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Police;
Local News;
Ownership Concentration
JEL Classification:
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D73 Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
D73 Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
Geographic Coverage:
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United States
Time Period(s):
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1/1/2010 – 12/31/2017
Collection Date(s):
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2010 – 2017
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