@article{MastroroccoOrnaghi, author = {Mastrorocco, Nicola and Ornaghi, Arianna}, title = {Who Watches the Watchmen? Local News and Police Behavior in the United States}, series = {American Economic Journal: Economic Policy}, volume = {17}, journal = {American Economic Journal: Economic Policy}, number = {2}, doi = {10.1257/pol.20230356}, pages = {285 -- 318}, abstract = {Do U.S. municipal police departments respond to news coverage of local crime? We address this question exploiting an exogenous shock to local crime reporting induced by acquisitions of local TV stations by a large broadcast group, Sinclair. Using a unique dataset of 8.5 million news stories and a triple differences design, we document that Sinclair ownership decreases news coverage of local crime. This matters for policing: municipalities that experience the change in news coverage have lower violent crime clearance rates relative to municipalities that do not. The result is consistent with a decrease of crime salience in the public opinion.}, language = {en} }