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The Usual Suspects: Offender Origin, Media Reporting and Natives’ Attitudes Towards Immigration

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  • Sekou Keita
  • Thomas Renault
  • Jérôme Valette
Abstract
This paper analyses whether the systematic disclosure of criminals’ origins in the press affects natives’ attitudes towards immigration. It takes advantage of the unilateral change in reporting policy announced by the German newspaper Sächsische Zeitung in July 2016. Combining individual-level panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel from 2014 to 2018 with 402,819 crime-related articles in German newspapers and those newspapers’ market shares, we find that systematically mentioning the origins of criminals increases the relative salience of natives’ criminality and reduces natives’ concerns about immigration, breaking the implicit link between immigration and crime.

Suggested Citation

  • Sekou Keita & Thomas Renault & Jérôme Valette, 2023. "The Usual Suspects: Offender Origin, Media Reporting and Natives’ Attitudes Towards Immigration," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(657), pages 322-362.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:econjl:v:134:y:2023:i:657:p:322-362.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sarah Schneider-Strawczynski & Jérôme Valette, 2021. "Media Coverage of Immigration and the Polarization of Attitudes," PSE Working Papers halshs-03322229, HAL.
    2. Silvia Peracchi, 2022. "The Migration Crisis in the Local News: Evidence from the French-Italian Border," CESifo Working Paper Series 10070, CESifo.
    3. Ghazaryan, Armine & Giulietti, Corrado & Wahba, Jackline, 2022. "Terror headlines and voting," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    4. Kai Gehring & Joop Adema & Panu Poutvaara & Joop Age Harm Adema, 2022. "Immigrant Narratives," CESifo Working Paper Series 10026, CESifo.
    5. Liyao Xiao & Fufeng Chu & Jingjing Mao & Jiaxin Yang & Ziyu Liu, 2024. "How Does New Media Shape the Sense of Belonging and Social Identity? The Social and Psychological Processes of Sustainable Successful Reintegration for Rehabilitated People," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Manzoni, Elena & Murard, Elie & Quercia, Simone & Tonini, Sara, 2024. "News, Emotions, and Policy Views on Immigration," IZA Discussion Papers 17017, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Birkholz, Carlo & Gomtsyan, David, 2023. "Immigrant religious practices and criminality: The case of Ramadan," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 90-104.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media

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