Access to Information, News Consumption and Democratic Participation: A Nationwide Experiment in French High Schools

Last registered on May 21, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Access to Information, News Consumption and Democratic Participation: A Nationwide Experiment in French High Schools
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016002
Initial registration date
May 12, 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
May 21, 2025, 2:07 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
France
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Julia Cagé
Affiliation
SciencesPo Paris
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Andrea Prat
PI Affiliation
Columbia University
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PI Name
Simon Briole
PI Affiliation
University of Montpellier & Paris School of Economics
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2024-09-01
End date
2025-12-01
Keywords
Education, Electoral
Additional Keywords
Media literacy; News consumption; Political participation; Youth engagement; Information inequality; Civic education
JEL code(s)
I28; P16; D83; C93
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Despite unprecedented access to information in the digital age, young citizens face growing challenges related to misinformation, political disengagement, and declining trust in the media. This randomized controlled trial evaluates two complementary interventions designed to strengthen media literacy, the ability to discern credible information, and democratic participation among high school students in France during the 2024–2025 academic year. The study involves 245 high schools, randomly assigned to receive one or both of the following: (i) a free digital subscription to a leading national newspaper, aimed at addressing financial or access-related barriers to high-quality information; and (ii) media education modules implemented by trained teachers, intended to enhance students’ critical understanding of media content and support classroom-based engagement. This design allows us to test whether the main barriers to informed citizenship lie in monetary constraints, in cognitive or motivational gaps, or both. Findings from this research will inform education and media policy, and contribute to broader debates on how to prepare young people to navigate today’s complex and polarized information landscape.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Briole, Simon, Julia Cagé and Andrea Prat. 2025. "Access to Information, News Consumption and Democratic Participation: A Nationwide Experiment in French High Schools." AEA RCT Registry. May 21. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16002-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
This study evaluates two interventions designed to improve high school students’ media literacy and democratic participation. The first intervention provides students with free digital access to a leading national newspaper throughout the school year. This aims to reduce financial and logistical barriers to accessing high-quality news content. The second intervention consists of media education modules delivered by teachers who receive training and pedagogical materials developed by the French public agency CLEMI. These modules include asynchronous online training and an optional live training for a simulation game (“Classe Investigation”) where students role-play as journalists. Schools are randomly assigned to one of four groups: (1) control group, (2) free digital access only (T1), (3) media education only (T2), and (4) both interventions (T1 + T2). Starting in January 2025, students in T1 and T1+T2 groups are also randomly selected to receive monthly push notifications (via app or SMS) encouraging them to read specific articles. The content and format of these messages are experimentally varied.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2024-10-15
Intervention End Date
2025-07-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We focus on two main sets of outcomes at the student level: (i) media literacy and news consumption, including self-reported interest and trust in media, ability to detect misinformation, and behavioral data from a news app; (ii) political knowledge and participation, including factual knowledge, civic engagement, and voting behavior (when available). Outcomes are measured through surveys, behavioral tasks, administrative records, and platform usage data.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
We plan to examine additional effects on (i) civic and environmental skills, such as knowledge of democratic institutions, trust in institutions, and pro-environmental behavior; (ii) student well-being, including news-related anxiety and general mental health; and (iii) teachers’ own political knowledge and engagement.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct a school-level randomized controlled trial across 245 high schools in France. Schools are randomly assigned to one of four groups: (i) control, (ii) free access to a high-quality digital newspaper (T1), (iii) media education modules implemented by trained teachers (T2), or (iv) a combined intervention (T1 + T2). Additionally, within the T1 and T1+T2 groups, a random subset of students receives monthly push notifications encouraging news consumption. The design allows us to isolate the effects of financial access, media literacy training, and their interaction on students’ media use and civic outcomes.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Schools
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
245
Sample size: planned number of observations
10 000 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
About 60 schools in each group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Paris school of Economics IRB
IRB Approval Date
2023-09-21
IRB Approval Number
2023-026
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials