Replication Data for: Unsubscribed and Undemanding: Partisanship and the Minimal Effects of a Field Experiment Encouraging Local News Consumption

Local newspapers convey extensive subnational political information but have dwindling audiences. In a nationalized and polarized information environment, can online interventions increase state/local news consumption and with what effects? We explore this question via a pre-registered experiment randomizing Pennsylvania residents (n=5,059) to staggered interventions encouraging news consumption from leading state newspapers. 2,529 individuals were offered free online subscriptions, but only 44 subscribed; we find little evidence of treatment effects on knowledge, engagement, or attitudes. We then administered a second treatment element-promoting subnational news directly via Facebook feeds-with a higher application rate but similarly limited impacts. Observational analyses of these respondents and separate national samples show that Democratic political partisanship has come to predict local newspaper subscriptions. Contemporary local newspapers may face a demand-side dilemma: the engaged citizens who formerly read them now prefer national, partisan content.

地方报纸承载着丰富的次国家级（subnational）政治资讯，但其受众规模却持续萎缩。在全国化且极化的信息环境中，线上干预手段能否提升州级/地方新闻的消费量？其实际效果又将如何？本研究通过一项预注册（pre-registered）实验探究上述问题：我们以样本量为5059的宾夕法尼亚州居民为研究对象，将其随机分配至不同组别，接受旨在鼓励其阅读州内主流报纸新闻的分阶段干预方案。其中2529名受试者被提供免费线上订阅服务，但最终仅有44人完成订阅；研究未发现该干预在知识水平、新闻参与度及政治态度层面存在显著干预效应。随后我们实施了第二项干预内容——通过Facebook信息流直接推送次国家级新闻——该干预的订阅申请率虽有所提升，但影响同样有限。对上述受试者及独立全国样本的观察性分析显示，民主党党派认同（Democratic partisanship）已成为预测地方报纸订阅行为的重要指标。当代地方报纸或许正面临需求端困境：过去曾订阅阅读该类报纸的活跃受众，如今更倾向于选择带有党派立场的全国性新闻内容。