Examining media markets’ influence on the diffusion of antismoking legislation in US counties

Abstract

This article assesses the role of mass media markets in the diffusion of antismoking legislation in the state of Missouri in the US. Testing multiple diffusion theories, this study finds that media markets can facilitate the diffusion of policies among local jurisdictions by exacerbating intercounty competition. More attention should be given to media markets when assessing policy diffusion mechanisms at the local level. Media markets can be an important source for policy information conveyance among counties over a large geographic area. Furthermore, traditional diffusion studies that rely on geographical contiguity measures may not be completely capturing the existence of diffusion by excluding media markets.

Salience, Scientific Uncertainty, and the Agenda‐Setting Power of Science

“…2 2 Some scholars have speculated that media coverage helps explain the potential impact of geographic proximity on the diffusion process, hypothesizing that overlapping media markets can alert residents and officials to the existence of policies in neighboring or nearby jurisdictions (Karch, 2007b; Mitchell, 2016; Pacheco, 2012). This hypothesis has not been assessed systematically to date and it is a fruitful direction for future research. …”