Local News Monopolies Increase Misperceptions about Immigration

Abstract

We examine how local news monopolies affect misperceptions about the size of the immigrant population in Germany. We propose a theoretical framework in which heterogeneous information from different local news outlets diffuses through social inter- actions. We posit that indirect exposure to information from multiple sources leads to more accurate beliefs in competitive markets. To causally identify the effect of local news monopolies on misperceptions, we exploit overlapping newspaper coverage areas as a source of exogenous variation in the number of available outlets. We estimate that local news monopolies increase misperceptions by 38%. We empirically demonstrate that the effect of media monopolies hinges on social interactions. For individuals with fewer close social contacts, misperceptions remain unaffected by local news monopolies. Our results suggest that consolidation in the market for news decreases constituents’ knowledge about critical policy issues.

Successful immigrants and attitudes toward immigration

“…The self-awareness feature is consistent with earlier research that emphasizes the mediating role of issue-specific knowledge in the relationship between framing and attitudes (Schemer, 2012;Hilbig and Riaz, 2021). The magnitude of the effects is also comparable to the previous literature studying parasocial exposure with surveys, ranging from 2 to 5 percentage point effects (Schemer, 2012;Alrababa'h et al, 2021).…”

“…Finally, the findings of this study add to the existing literature on the misperceptions surrounding immigrants and their impact on anti-immigration attitudes (Hooghe and de Vroome, 2015;Hilbig and Riaz, 2021;Lutz and Bitschnau, 2022;Alesina et al, 2023). Alesina et al (2023) use a survey experiment and find that the use of 'hard-working immigrant' language can partly mitigate the negative narrative surrounding immigrants being seen as free-riders.…”

“…Additionally, issuespecific knowledge about immigration has been shown to determine attitudes towards it (Schemer, 2012). The media's level of consolidation has also been shown to impact the public's knowledge of critical policy issues (Hilbig and Riaz, 2021). The question remains: how does media consolidation on positive reporting, such as in the case of the Tureci-Sahin couple, impact public perception and knowledge of immigration issues?…”

“…Mastro et al (2009) illustrate how even a one-off exposure to negative information can lead to a deterioration in attitudes and behavior towards a social group. On immigration, a growing body of research has demonstrated the ef-fect of media coverage on attitudes toward immigrants (Boomgaarden and Vliegenthart, 2007;Vliegenthart et al, 2012;Schlueter and Davidov, 2013;Hilbig and Riaz, 2021).…”