My dissertation project examines the origins and consequences of competition in the market for television news.

The central argument is that media market competition changes the audience for, as well the constraints on, regime propaganda: citizens skeptical of pro-regime messaging can seek out alternative, often apolitical, media; and absent the constraints of a skeptical audience, regimes can broadcast more biased propaganda yet will reach a smaller audience. This trade-off has implications both for the efficacy of propaganda and information control under autocracy, as well as the stability of authoritarian regimes.

I evaluate this argument using original data on 25 years of outlet competition in the market for television news across sixty-four autocracies, a content analysis of scraped newscasts from government channels, and cross-national survey data on news consumption.