The Influence of Le Monde Coverage on French Foreign Aid Allocations

This study explores the role that Le Monde coverage plays in the allocation of French development aid. It is expected that foreign policy officials will try to match the magnitude of their actions with what they expect is the public's perception of the importance of the aid recipient. News media salience serves as an easily accessible indicator of that domestic political importance and, in the case of foreign aid, this suggests that higher levels of news coverage of a less developed country will lead to higher aid commitments. Statistical analyses of French aid commitments during the period 1986-1998 demonstrate that while the most important predictor of foreign aid is the official adoption of the French language by the aid recipient, the levels of Le Monde coverage are consistently and significantly correlated with levels of French foreign aid.