Local News and State Legislative Effectiveness

Natural differences in media markets in the United States lead to differences in specificity and intensity with which newspapers cover individual legislators. Although past work examines how local media influences the performance of whole legislatures, less is known about influences on individual state legislators. I hypothesize that the mere prospect of intense, specific coverage induces legislators to work harder on their constituents’ behalf. Using local newspaper circulation data from the News Deserts Database and the Alliance for Audited Media, I investigate whether state legislators perform better when they represent a media market suited to generate intense and specific coverage of their legislative activities. Indeed, I find that such legislators are more effective on average. Although these legislators do not introduce more bills than others, the bills they introduce are more likely to earn legislative approval and become law.