ABSTRACT
The content of political communication of independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) is understudied. Combining computational text analysis and qualitative document analysis, this study analyzes over 7,500 speeches and statements of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioners, given over two decades, to examine how political and industry influence on policymaking manifest themselves discursively. The results shed light on how external factors, such as regulator party affiliation and passage through the revolving door, exert influence on IRAs by impacting agenda-setting processes and occasionally the content of regulators’ political communication. However, the findings also reveal the contingency of this influence in selected contexts as well.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks Daniel Hopkins and Yphtach Lelkes for their comments on an early draft of this manuscript, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback.
Supplemental data
Supplemental data for this paper can be accessed on the publisher’s website.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 For additional information, see Appendix 4.
2 See appendices 1–3 for validation diagnostics.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Pawel Popiel
Pawel Popiel (M.A., University of Pennsylvania) is a PhD candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. His research interests include information, communication, and digital platform policy, and the politics of regulation.