Professors at MIT and Stockholm University find that congressional districts with little press coverage tend to elect representatives who are less independent, less well-known to voters and less likely to bring home pork projects. Their paper is published by the National Bureau for Economic Research. Newspapers make democracy -- with its virtues and faults -- work.

Voters living in areas with less coverage of their U.S. House representative are less likely to recall their representative's name, and less able to describe and rate them. Congressmen who are less covered by the local press work less for their constituencies: they are less likely to stand witness before congressional hearings, to serve on constituency-oriented committees (perhaps), and to vote against the party line. Finally, this congressional behavior affects policy. Federal spending is lower in areas where there is less press coverage of the local members of congress.