Mass Media and Political Accountability

Mass media can play a key role in enabling citizens to monitor the actions of incumbents and to use this information in their voting decisions. Thiscan lead to government which is more accountable and responsive to itscitizens’ needs. In spite of the intuitive plausibility of the proposition, thereis comparatively little work in the political economy literature that scrutinizesthe role and effectiveness of the media in fulfilling this function. A literature,however, is emerging which focuses attention on the importance of the socalledfourth estate of government in the policy process. A key feature ofthe approach taken here is to focus on incentives the media have to produceand disseminate information.[...]