Broadcasting Equality: Media Narratives and the Rise of Civil Rights

By Alex Armand, Paul Atwell, Joseph F. Gomes, Giuseppe Musillo, Yannik Schenk

We document the influence of media narratives in counteracting racial prejudice by exploring the emergence of socially inclusive narratives in post-WWII U.S. media. We exploit an unprecedented experiment that created exogenous exposure to these narratives: in 1946, amid widespread racial divisions, the popular children’s radio series The Adventures of Superman suddenly decided to promote equality by reframing its fictional stories. We find that exposure to these narratives significantly contributed to the advancement of civil rights in subsequent decades. Specifically, we uncover increased support for civil rights and civil rights organizations, deeper racial assimilation, and more progressive political positions.

Unpublished paper