Ethnic Media and the Mobilization of Identity

Abstract

Can media fuel support for ethnic parties? By their nature, ethnic media can manipulate the salience of cultural boundaries, strengthening group identity. In a conflicting environment, they can help coalesce grievances against the state along identity lines, which favors ethnic mobilization. I study the case of the Basque Country in the late phase of the Franco regime, where an independent radio station operated by the local clergy promoted the revival of regional language. Using contemporary, archival, and survey data, I show that exposure to ethnic radio increased support for new radical independentist parties, and that the effect is driven by linguistically hispanified municipalities with low historical support for Basque nationalism. I also show that radio increased bilingualism in subsequent generations, and contributed to the progressive bundling of ethnic identity and political radicalism during the democratic transition.