TY - UNPB
T1 - Local Media and Epidemics
T2 - Evidence from the Ebola outbreak in Guinea
AU - Gonzalez-Torres, Ada
PY - 2022/10
Y1 - 2022/10
N2 - Local media struggles financially, yet policy-makers insist on its importance. Does local media matter? If so, why? Is it more relevant information, ethno-linguistic belonging, or, locality, helping coordinate behavior? I examine this in a high-stakes context, the Ebola epidemic in Guinea. I exploit quasi-random variation in access to distinct media outlets and the timing of a public-health campaign on community radio. I find that 13% of Ebola cases would have been prevented if places with access to neighboring community radio stations had their own. This is driven by radio stations' locality, not ethno-linguistic boundaries, and by coordination in socially-sanctioned behaviors.
AB - Local media struggles financially, yet policy-makers insist on its importance. Does local media matter? If so, why? Is it more relevant information, ethno-linguistic belonging, or, locality, helping coordinate behavior? I examine this in a high-stakes context, the Ebola epidemic in Guinea. I exploit quasi-random variation in access to distinct media outlets and the timing of a public-health campaign on community radio. I find that 13% of Ebola cases would have been prevented if places with access to neighboring community radio stations had their own. This is driven by radio stations' locality, not ethno-linguistic boundaries, and by coordination in socially-sanctioned behaviors.
U2 - https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2210.15946
DO - https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2210.15946
M3 - Preprint
BT - Local Media and Epidemics
ER -
