Media and gridlock

• I show that less informative media can cause strategic political obstructionism.
• This theory for gridlock is novel, as previous literature focuses on polarization.
• I argue gridlock and other U.S. political trends are caused partly by media change.
• In particular, gridlock may worsen political reputations, which then exacerbate gridlock.

I develop a model of the relation between the media environment and political obstructionism. I show that when voters are less informed by media, obstructionism becomes a more effective political signal for the minority party. The model thus implies that media change can cause gridlock via signaling; by contrast, the previous literature on causes of gridlock focuses on polarization and other factors. The model also makes several auxiliary predictions consistent with recent trends in U.S. politics.