Replication Data for: "The Minimal Effects of Making Local News Free: Evidence from a Field Experiment"

The collapse of local newspapers has elicited broad concern about citizens' knowledge of and engagement with local politics. As newspapers struggle, many have retreated behind online paywalls---which limit access to political information that is essential for democracy. Does making local news free to access induce its consumption? And, if so, does that consumption produce salutary effects on citizen knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors? I provide evidence from a pre-registered, randomized field experiment, which provided a probability-based sample of registered voters with a free digital subscription to a local newspaper for two months during the 2022 general election. The free subscriptions did not meaningfully increase consumption, nor produce meaningful changes in political knowledge, attitudes, or behaviors. Price is but one of several obstacles to news consumption, and disparities in citizen knowledge and engagement with local politics are unlikely to be addressed by making some local journalism available for free.