Sean Ewing

PhD Candidate in Political Science

University of California, Los Angeles

I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, with concentrations in American politics, methods, and racial and ethnic politics. I study political communication in the United States with a focus on how changes in technology and news production affect citizen knowledge, political behavior, representation, and election outcomes. I collect novel datasets about the news media which I combine with survey data and electoral returns to answer questions about the relationship between the media and civic participation.

My dissertation, titled “Changes in the News Industry and its Impact on Local News Production and Political Behavior,” examines the causes behind the decline of local news and its impact on news content, civic engagement, and political behavior. I collect original datasets that detail the ownership, availability, content, and production schedule of every daily and weekly newspaper in the United States. I then use data on voter knowledge and election outcomes to assess the effects of changes in the news environment on local news production, citizen engagement, and political behavior. My results suggest that changes in the news industry have resulted in less local political news content and more national political news content, consequently diminishing citizen knowledge and engagement with worrisome implications for the accountability of local officials.