Spotlighting the Economy
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Spotlighting the Economy

In this article, “Spotlighting the Economy: Media Coverage and Mayoral Evaluations,” Burke shows that local newspapers are opinion leaders in the cities that they serve. I demonstrate that local newspapers help citizens hold their local governments accountable for economic performance. While a great deal of political science research has found that Americans hold their national government accountable for economic performance, only recently have scholars begun to examine the relationship between economic performance and citizens’ support for their city governments.

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Political Consequences of the Endangered Local Watchdog
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Political Consequences of the Endangered Local Watchdog

The prolonged and ongoing struggle of city newspapers to stay afloat and maintain full newsrooms made us curious about potential fallout for local politics. Our new article in UAR leverages 20 years of data to examine the relationship between newspaper staffing cuts and measures of political competition and voter engagement in mayoral elections.

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