Impact of mass media on public awareness: The “Under the Dome” effect in China
基于2015年纪录片《穹顶之下》上映的自然实验，利用断点回归发现该片使每县每日关于空气污染的市民热线电话增加2-3通，是之前的两倍多，表明大众媒体能显著提升公众环保意识。
This research examines the impact of mass media on citizens’ awareness of environmental protection based on a natural experiment on the release of the environmental documentary titled “Under the Dome” on February 28, 2015 in China. Through a regression discontinuity design with a typical city sample, we find that the release of “Under the Dome” resulted in 2 to 3 more daily calls about air pollution concerns to the citizen hotline per county, more than twice the number of those before the shock. Considering the impact of major political events and public holidays, our results remain robust. Evidence of the “Under the Dome” effects is also found in calls about other pollution and non-pollution concerns in a longer period. We argue that the mass media generally plays a role in triggering the public awareness.