A Spatial Analysis of the Impact of West German Television on Protest Mobilization During the East German Revolution

Crabtree, Charles; Darmofal, David; Kern, Holger L.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2405594

Cited by 18 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…We make use of the fact that only in some counties the population could previously receive West German television. Data for the over-the-air signal strength was retrieved from Crabtree et al (2015). In their paper, a Longley-Rice electromagnetic signal propagation model, terrain data as well as data on the location and technical characteristics of West German television transmitters are used to model signal strength.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It received the value 0 if the signal strength was less than -80 dBm, 1 if it was at least -80 dBm, 2 if it was at least -82.5 dBm, and 3 if it was at least -85 dBm. Information about the over-the-air signal strength is measured at the county level (Kreisebene) and was retrieved from Crabtree et al (2015).…”

Section: Tv Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel she finds a long lasting e↵ect that West German television exposure made East Germans believe that e↵ort rather than luck is a crucial determinant of success in life. Crabtree, Darmofal & Kern (2015) investigate whether West German television exposure spurred protest events in the year 1989, which ultimately led to the collapse of the German Democratic Republic. In their study, they do not find evidence that exposure to West Germany broadcasting had an e↵ect on protest events.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Can Television Reduce Xenophobia? The Case of East Germany

Hornuf

Rieger

2017

SSRN Journal

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Abstract Can television have a mitigating e↵ect on xenophobia? To examine this question, we exploit the fact that individuals in some areas of East Germany -due to their geographic location -could not receive West German television until 1989. We conjecture that individuals who received West German television were exposed more frequently to foreigners and thus have developed less xenophobia than people who were not exposed to those programs. Our results show that regions that could receive West German television were less likely to vote for right-wing parties during the national elections from 1998 to 2013. Only recently, the same regions were also more likely to vote for left-wing parties. Moreover, while counties that hosted more foreigners in 1989 were also more likely to vote for right-wing parties in most elections, we find counties that recently hosted more foreign visitors showed less xenophobia, which is in line with intergroup contact theory. Terms of use: Documents in

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Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Tv Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Can Television Reduce Xenophobia? The Case of East Germany

Hornuf

Rieger

2017

SSRN Journal

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“…13 Another historical event that can reflect political preferences of former GDR citizens are the protests before the break-down of the GDR regime. Crabtree et al (2015) provide information on protest events for the year 1989 on the county level for the former GDR. Table A1 shows the correlation matrix for the outcome variable and all controls.…”

Section: Covariatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Window to the World: The Long-Term Effect of Television on Hate Crime

Endrich

2020

SSRN Journal

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This paper analyzes the long-term impact of television on hate crimes in Germany. In the German Democratic Republic (GDR) foreign television served as a window to the world and exposed viewers to foreign influences. But certain parts of the GDR were excluded from receiving Western television due to geographical features. I argue that this resulted in long-lasting differences in the attitude towards foreigners. Using the spatial variation in signal strength as a natural experiment, the paper tests the effect of Western broadcasts on the rate of hate crimes. Municipalities with no access to foreign broadcasts exhibit a higher degree of xenophobic violence in the period of the migration crisis in Germany between 2014 to 2017. It shows that media can lead to preference changes that persist for a long time after the exposure.

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“…This variation in signal strength, which is often plausibly exogenous (at least conditional on observables), can be used as a natural source of causal identification. Examples of this identification strategy include work on the effects of radio and television consumption on social capital in Indonesia (Olken 2009), the link between hate radio and collective violence in Rwanda (Yanagizawa-Drott 2014), radio's impact on the rise of the Nazis (Adena et al 2015), West German television's role during the East German revolution (Crabtree, Darmofal, and Kern 2015), the effects of Russian television on voting behavior in Ukraine (Peisakhin and Rozenas 2017), and the effects of entertainment television in Italy on votes for populist parties (Durante, Pinotti, and Tesei 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Electromagnetic Signal Propagation Models for Radio and Television Broadcasts: An Introduction

Crabtree¹,

Kern²

2018

Polit. Anal.

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This note offers an introduction to electromagnetic signal propagation models, which can be used to model terrestrial radio and television signal strength across space. Such data are useful to social scientists interested in identifying the effects of mass media broadcasts when (i) individual-level data on media exposure do not exist or when (ii) media exposure, while observed, is not exogenous. We illustrate the use of electromagnetic signal propagation models by creating a signal strength measure of military-controlled radio stations during the 2012 coup in Mali.

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A Spatial Analysis of the Impact of West German Television on Protest Mobilization During the East German Revolution

Cited by 18 publications

References 31 publications

Can Television Reduce Xenophobia? The Case of East Germany

Can Television Reduce Xenophobia? The Case of East Germany

A Window to the World: The Long-Term Effect of Television on Hate Crime

Using Electromagnetic Signal Propagation Models for Radio and Television Broadcasts: An Introduction

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