Niches and Vacuums: Field Experiments on Community Media and Latino Political Engagement

The media environment shapes people's engagement with democratic politics, yet declining local news coverage has left many communities with limited access to information about subnational politics. This challenge is particularly acute for Spanish-speaking Latinos in the United States, who face a local information environment dominated by entertainment-oriented commercial media and misinformation-prone social media. We assess whether community-centered ethnic media organizations---nonprofit, locally focused outlets delivering Spanish-language news through accessible channels like WhatsApp---promote political engagement among this population relative to commercial Spanish-language alternatives. Drawing on three pre-registered, multi-site field experiments involving approximately 1,160 Spanish-speaking Latinos, complemented by a content analysis, we find that exposure to community media increases political efficacy, trust in media, and local political knowledge during non-election periods. These effects attenuate and in several cases reverse during a presidential election when mainstream media prioritizes national political coverage, highlighting how broader information ecosystems condition the effects of local media interventions.