Abstract
AbstractDoes more media censorship imply more regime stability? We argue that censorship may cause mass disapproval for censoring regimes. In particular, we expect that censorship backfires when citizens can falsify media content through alternative sources of information. We empirically test our theoretical argument in an autocratic regime—the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Results demonstrate how exposed state censorship on the country's emigration crisis fueled outrage in the weeks before the 1989 revolution. Combining original weekly approval surveys on GDR state television and daily content data of West German news programs with a quasi‐experimental research design, we show that recipients disapproved of censorship if they were able to detect misinformation through conflicting reports on Western television. Our findings have important implications for the study of censoring systems in contemporary autocracies, external democracy promotion, and campaigns aimed at undermining trust in traditional journalism.
Highlights
Does more media censorship imply more regime stability? We argue that censorship may cause mass disapproval for censoring regimes
Our findings demonstrate that people were able to identify their regime’s bleak strategy of censorship and defamation based on the extensive reports on West German television (WGTV)
Using over 17,000 individual-level approval ratings of German Democratic Republic (GDR) state television programs and original content data based on West German news transcripts, we quantitatively show that censoring practices by East German state media resonated poorly with the audience—irrespective of the respondents’ ideological ties to the regime
Summary
I n 2003, Barbra Streisand filed a lawsuit against amateur photographer Kenneth Adelman for violating her privacy rights. We argue that blatant state censorship is likely to backfire, when people can draw on trusted alternative sources of information to identify discrepancies Such alternative sources can be traditional media and, increasingly, web-based communication technologies. Using over 17,000 individual-level approval ratings of GDR state television programs and original content data based on West German news transcripts, we quantitatively show that censoring practices by East German state media resonated poorly with the audience—irrespective of the respondents’ ideological ties to the regime. Based on unique observational data on media approval in a highly authoritarian environment, we provide the first systematic test of how excessive information manipulation can damage the reliability of state media, which deprives the regime of its capacity to influence the population (Gehlbach and Sonin 2014; Little 2017). Our findings augment research on the nexus between media, framing, and social movements (e.g., Andrews and Biggs 2006; Myers 2000; Soule and Roggeband 2019), as well as the literature on political backlash in reaction to physical repression (e.g., Daxecker and Hess 2013; Moore 1998; Sutton, Butcher, and Svensson 2014)
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