Title

Who Killed the Travelin' Soldier: Elites, Masses, and Blacklisting of Critical Speakers

Author(s)

Gabriel Rossman Gabriel Rossman (Princeton University)

Abstract

Several studies have shown the influence of ownership on media content in routine contexts but none has quantitatively tested it in the theoretically important context of a crisis. Recently the country musicians the Dixie Chicks were blacklisted from the radio for criticizing the president in wartime. I use this event to test the role of media ownership in a crisis. Through analyzing airplay from a national sample of radio stations, this paper finds that contrary to prominent allegations grounded in the political economy tradition of media sociology, this backlash did not come from owners of large chains. Rather, I find that opposition to the Dixie Chicks represents grassroots conservative sentiment, which may be exacerbated by the ideological connotations of country music or tempered by tolerance for dissent.

Creation Date

2003-05

Section URL ID

CACPS

Paper Number

26

URL

https://culturalpolicy.princeton.edu/sites/culturalpolicy/files/wp26_rossman.pdf

File Function

Jel

Z11, L82

Keyword(s)

Suppress

false

Series

6