Nation without place: does local news decline cause democratic dysfunction in the contemporary United States?

Thesis

What impact does the closure of a local newspaper have on civic engagement? This thesis examines the relationship between U.S. local newspapers and associated local-level voter behavior nationwide since 2004. Working across presidential and congressional elections under stringent model conditions and using novel data, this thesis makes causal claims linking local newspaper closure to (i) declines in voter turnout, (ii) increases in partisan vote share, (iii) increased ideological extremity of elected candidates, and (iv) increased incumbency advantage. It argues that, given the scope of these effects, they must be contextualized not simply as a discrete problem for local political functioning, but in aggregate as a structural contributor to national-level democratic dysfunction. Highlighting a paradox in that the high-choice digital media environment has led to a low-or-no choice local media environment, these findings carry compelling implications for understanding the tension between concentrated informational power and federally distributed democratic systems. This thesis presents the strongest evidence to date for understanding the negative civic impacts of recent local news closure in the U.S. as widespread, and not isolated to the individual communities where papers close.

Authors: Simpson, E

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-qmpaenj0r
• Type of award: MSc by Research
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford