The Geography of Political Communication: Effects of Regional Variations in Campaign Advertising on Citizen Communication

This study explores whether and how campaign-induced changes in local information environments influence citizens' everyday communication activities. The empirical analysis in this study centers on a comparison of two New Jersey media markets that showed idiosyncratic differences in the amount of political advertising during the 2000 presidential campaign. Results from this natural quasi-experimental design provide evidence that a respondent's media market was a significant factor for her news attention and interpersonal discussion. That is, New Jersey residents in high-ad-volume areas were more active in political communication practices than those in low-volume areas. The findings of this study deepen our understanding of citizens' information seeking and political conversation, both of which have long been explained by individual-level differences.