Publication: Opposition Media, State Censorship, and Political Accountability: Evidence from Chavez’s Venezuela
Loading...
Published
2021-09-06
ISSN
0258-6770 (print)
1564-698X (online)
1564-698X (online)
Date
2024-01-17
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This study investigates the effects of state censorship in the context of the 2007 government closing of RCTV, a popular opposition television channel in Venezuela. Some parts of the country had access to a second opposition channel, Globovision, while other parts completely lost access to opposition television. The first finding, based upon ratings data, is that viewership fell on the progovernment replacement, following the closing of RCTV, but rose on Globovision in areas with access to the signal. Based upon this switching, the paper investigates whether support for Chavez fell in areas that retained access to opposition television, relative to those that completely lost access. Using three measures, Latin barometer survey data, electoral returns, and data on protest activity, the second finding is that support for Chavez fell in municipalities that retained access to opposition television, relative to municipalities that lost access to opposition television. Taken together, these two findings suggest that voters switching from censored outlets to uncensored outlets can limit the effectiveness of state censorship.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Knight, Brian; Tribin, Ana. 2021. Opposition Media, State Censorship, and Political Accountability: Evidence from Chavez’s Venezuela. World Bank Economic Review. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/40913 License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
World Bank Economic Review
1564-698X
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
No results found.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Ten Steps to a Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation System : A Handbook for Development Practitioners(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004)An effective state is essential to achieving socio-economic and sustainable development. With the advent of globalization, there are growing pressures on governments and organizations around the world to be more responsive to the demands of internal and external stakeholders for good governance, accountability and transparency, greater development effectiveness, and delivery of tangible results. Governments, parliaments, citizens, the private sector, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), civil society, international organizations, and donors are among the stakeholders interested in better performance. As demands for greater accountability and real results have increased, there is an attendant need for enhanced results-based monitoring and evaluation of policies, programs, and projects. This handbook provides a comprehensive ten-step model that will help guide development practitioners through the process of designing and building a results-based monitoring and evaluation system. These steps begin with a 'readiness assessment' and take the practitioner through the design, management, and importantly, the sustainability of such systems. The handbook describes each step in detail, the tasks needed to complete each one, and the tools available to help along the way.Publication Proceedings of the International Grid-Connected Renewable Energy Policy Forum(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-08)This document presents the highlights of speaker presentations, breakout groups, ensuing discussions, conclusions, and next steps as presented at the International Grid- Connected Renewable Energy (RE) Policy Forum. The conferences purpose was to facilitate increased use of grid-connected RE in the developing world. In the course of the three-day meetings, speakers and participants addressed the challenge of scaling up the use of RE for grid power supply. The interactive forum was designed to focus on four core topics: 1) incorporation of RE in power sector frameworks; 2) economic valuation of RE; 3) RE policy instruments; and 4) private sector investment in RE. The forum also presented issues and offered solutions, lessons learned, best practices, and country-specific case studiesPublication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics--Europe 2004 : Economic Integration and Social Responsibility(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007)To address these broad questions: How to analyze the impact of globalization? What is the effect of rich countries' policies on developing ones? How to redefine the development agenda and scale-up the aid effort? The European Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE-Europe) focused on some of the problematic features of globalization and discussed the global impact of developed countries' policies in a number of crucial areas for developing countries, such as farm trade, migrations, the protection of intellectual property, and capital flows. It also highlighted the role and responsibilities of the private sector. This volume, organized in twelve chapters, opens with the five plenary session papers that were at the core of the discussion and focuses on five crucial issues and policy challenges: agricultural trade, migration flows, intellectual property rights, the costs and benefits of international capital flows, and options for sovereign debt restructuring. The seven remaining chapters offer a collection of selected papers discussed in the parallel workshops held during the conference. They cover a wider range of issues, from the role and responsibilities of private actors and the components of the business environment, to the sources of development finance and the relationship between commodity resources and development, to the issue of scaling up, and the possibility of intensifying the volume and impact of development aid.Publication Digital Progress and Trends Report 2023(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-05)Digitalization is the transformational opportunity of our time. The digital sector has become a powerhouse of innovation, economic growth, and job creation. Value added in the IT services sector grew at 8 percent annually during 2000–22, nearly twice as fast as the global economy. Employment growth in IT services reached 7 percent annually, six times higher than total employment growth. The diffusion and adoption of digital technologies are just as critical as their invention. Digital uptake has accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 1.5 billion new internet users added from 2018 to 2022. The share of firms investing in digital solutions around the world has more than doubled from 2020 to 2022. Low-income countries, vulnerable populations, and small firms, however, have been falling behind, while transformative digital innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) have been accelerating in higher-income countries. Although more than 90 percent of the population in high-income countries was online in 2022, only one in four people in low-income countries used the internet, and the speed of their connection was typically only a small fraction of that in wealthier countries. As businesses in technologically advanced countries integrate generative AI into their products and services, less than half of the businesses in many low- and middle-income countries have an internet connection. The growing digital divide is exacerbating the poverty and productivity gaps between richer and poorer economies. The Digital Progress and Trends Report series will track global digitalization progress and highlight policy trends, debates, and implications for low- and middle-income countries. The series adds to the global efforts to study the progress and trends of digitalization in two main ways: · By compiling, curating, and analyzing data from diverse sources to present a comprehensive picture of digitalization in low- and middle-income countries, including in-depth analyses on understudied topics. · By developing insights on policy opportunities, challenges, and debates and reflecting the perspectives of various stakeholders and the World Bank’s operational experiences. This report, the first in the series, aims to inform evidence-based policy making and motivate action among internal and external audiences and stakeholders. The report will bring global attention to high-performing countries that have valuable experience to share as well as to areas where efforts will need to be redoubled.