For a profession that lives by the cynical adage, “If your mother says she loves you, check it out,” journalism has been surprisingly lax in verifying one of its central claims—that it keeps government honest. But is it true?

Two economists, who went looking for proof, found little hard evidence—good or bad—of the effects of the press on democracy. So they set about establishing the truth of the claim themselves, in a new study that nails down the relationship between newspaper coverage and political accountability.

While previous studies have argued that the recipe for good governance includes knowledgeable voters and an active press, none have identified which comes first. In a working paper featured on the Web site of the National Bureau of Economic Research, MIT’s James Snyder Jr. and Stockholm University’s David Strömberg produce the most convincing evidence yet by identifying a chain of impact that starts with the press. Journalists, they say, kick-start a virtuous cycle by covering politics, which educates voters, who in turn put pressure on politicians, who then work harder and produce more constituent-friendly policies. House of Representatives members who aren’t scrutinized by hometown reporters, Snyder and Strömberg find, work less for their constituencies—they testify at fewer hearings, serve on fewer committees, and vote more often along party lines. As a result, federal policy tends to break unfavorably for their constituents, and federal spending is lower in their districts. When politicians do receive coverage, they offer testimony at almost 50 percent more congressional hearings and slice off 10 percent more pork for their districts—roughly $2,700 a person—than colleagues the press ignores.

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