Media regulation and viewer reactions: The case of C8's closure in France

Last registered on February 05, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Media regulation and viewer reactions: The case of C8's closure in France
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015302
Initial registration date
February 04, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
February 05, 2025, 9:52 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Camille Urvoy
Affiliation
University of Mannheim
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Elisa Mougin
PI Affiliation
ENS de Lyon
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-02-05
End date
2025-08-31
Keywords
Electoral, Governance, Other
Additional Keywords
Media, Regulation
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study investigates the impact of media regulation on media consumption, political knowledge, and opinions by leveraging a landmark decision by the French regulator not to renew a popular TV channel’s license. An embedded experiment will explore how the channel's messaging and background information on the regulator's role influence perceptions of media regulation and mobilization efforts.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Mougin, Elisa and Camille Urvoy. 2025. "Media regulation and viewer reactions: The case of C8's closure in France." AEA RCT Registry. February 05. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15302-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2025-02-05
Intervention End Date
2025-06-06

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
* Support for the media regulator's decision
* Willingness to sign a petition opposing the regulator
* Media consumption habits (other shows watched, other media platforms used)
* Political views
* Knowledge of recent news events
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
See attached plan

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
* Support for/opposition to media regulation arguments
* Views regarding the discontinued channel
* Perceived support for the regulator's view
* Perception of people holding similar/opposing view on this decision
* Perception of show characteristics
* Perception of opinion representation in the media landscape
* Behavior on social media
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
See attached plan

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
See attached plan (registered before the trial, will be published when the trial is complete)
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Assignment into treatment will be based on a randomized block design. Since the sample frame arrives over time, it will be progressively divided into blocks. To achieve this, we consider twenty-four subgroups of respondents based on answers from the first part of the survey. These subgroups are determined by the intersection of the following characteristics:
* C8 viewership: whether the respondent reports watching C8.
*Political positioning:
- Left: scores 0 to 3 on a 0-10 left-right scale.
- Center: scores 4 to 6.
- Right: scores 7 to 10.
- Missing: respondent declines to answer.
* Educational attainment:
- Secondary and vocational education: includes 'primary school or less', 'middle school', 'vocational education (e.g. CAP, BEP)' and 'high school (e.g. bac professionnel, bac technologique, bac général)'.
- Undergraduate and associate-level education.
- Graduate and post-graduate level.
Each block consists of eight sequential participants belonging to the same subgroup. The first eight participants in a given subgroup are randomly assigned to the four treatment arms. The next eight participants in that subgroup are will also be distributed across the four arms, and so forth.
Randomization Unit
Randomization at the individual level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
We target 4000 respondents in the first wave. The survey company predicts 20% of attrition per wave. Respondents who do not respond to the second and third wave will be recontacted for the next waves to limit attrition.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Four treatment arms in the first wave, 1000 individuals per arm.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethics Committee University of Mannheim
IRB Approval Date
2025-01-31
IRB Approval Number
EC Mannheim 3/2025
Analysis Plan

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