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The recent rapid evolution of digital technologies has been changing behaviors and expectations in countries around the world. These shifts make it the right time to pose the key question this paper explores: Will digital technologies, both those that are already widespread and those that are still emerging, have substantial impacts on the way citizens engage and the ways through which power is sought, used, or contested? The authors address this question both to mitigate some of the World Bank's operational risks, and to initiate a conversation with peers about how those risks might require policy shifts. The overall framing question also is being explored in case theapproaches to citizen engagement advocated by the World Bank are changing and may require different advice for client countries. Despite the lower technology penetration levels in developing countries, their more malleable governance contexts may be more influenced by the effects of emerging technologies than older states with greater rigidity. Digitally influencedcitizen engagement is, in short, one of those "leapfrog" areas in which developing nations may exploit technologies before the wealthier parts of the world. But countries can leapfrog to worse futures, not just better ones. This paper explores what technology might mean for engagement, makespredictions, and offers measures for governments to consider.

Accountability --- Broadcast and Media --- Civil Society --- E-Government --- Governance --- ICT Applications --- Information and Communication Technologies --- Information Technology --- Participations and Civic Engagement --- Politics --- Social Development

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In recent years, alongside democratic backsliding and security threats, censorship is increasingly used by governments and other societal actors to control the media. Who is likely to be affected by censorship and why? Does censorship as a form of punishment coexist with or act as a substitute for reward-based forms of media capture such as market concentration or bribes? First, this argues that censors employ censorship only toward certain targets that provide information to politically consequential audiences, while allowing media that caters to elite audiences to report freely. Second, the paper hypothesizes that coercion and inducements are substitutes, with censorship being employed primarily when bribes and ownership fail to control information. To test these hypotheses, a new data set was built of 9,000 salient censorship events and their characteristics across 196 countries between 2001 and 2015. The study finds strong empirical support for the theory of media market segmentation.

Anti-Corruption --- Broadcast and Media --- Censorship --- Crime and Society --- Educational Sciences --- Governance --- Human Rights --- Law and Development --- Media --- National Governance --- Performance Measurement --- Public Sector --- Quality of Life and Leisure --- Social Analysis --- Social Development --- Youth and Governance

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This paper explores the dynamics of media chatter about economic reforms using text analysis from about a billion newspaper articles in 28 languages. The paper shows that the intensity of reform chatter increases during economic downturns. This increase is more significant in democracies. Using instrumental variable techniques, the analysis finds the relationship to be causal. The paper also documents that reform chatter is followed by actual reforms, suggesting that democracies benefit from a "self-correcting" mechanism stemming from changing popular attitudes toward reform.

Broadcast and Media --- Business Cycle --- Business Cycles and Stabilization Policies --- Chatter --- Democracy --- Democratic Government --- Economic Adjustment and Lending --- Governance --- Information and Communication Technologies --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Media --- Political Economy --- Public Sector Reform --- Reform

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Energy subsidy reform is not a goal in itself, but rather a means of achieving lasting economic and social progress. Communicating with the public and other key stakeholders about the benefits of reform and the drawbacks of existing subsidies helps build support and acceptance. It can also increase trust and understanding of the political decisions that underpin the reform. International experience shows that communicating before, during, and after subsidy reform is essential to ensuring the smooth rollout of a well-planned and executed energy subsidy reform program (GSIand IISD 2013). Some governments undertaking energy subsidy reform programs either ignore communication with stakeholders or take a top-down approach that fails to recognize stakeholder views and concerns. This happens for many reasons, including lack of understanding about the powerful role communication plays in a successful energy subsidy reform program and the absence of capacity within a government to undertake communication activities. This note is intended for use by governments and aims to (a) advocate for the importance of communicating with citizens proactively about energy subsidy reform and (b) guide practitioners through some of the important elements of an evidence-based and effective communication campaign, including timing, stakeholder consultation, opinion research, messages, messengers, media, and evaluation. This note should be used in combination with other tools, including capacity building workshops and tailored advice from experienced communication professionals.

Broadcast And Media --- Energy --- Energy And Poverty Alleviation --- Energy Demand --- Energy Policies And Economics --- Energy Subsidies --- Governance --- Information And Communication Technologies --- Macroeconomics And Economic Growth --- Needs Assessment --- Participations And Civic Engagement --- Politics And Government --- Poverty Reduction --- Public Opinion --- Services And Transfers To Poor --- Social Development --- Taxation And Subsidies

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This paper investigates to what extent media impacts political decisions. A viable practical approach to test the relationship between mass media and political actions is through the use of the World Bank's Doing Business data, specifically, by assessing local media coverage of Doing Business and implementation of business regulatory reforms. The tested hypothesis is that countries with higher media coverage of Doing Business tend to carry out more business regulatory reforms, assuming one- and two-year lags between media coverage and reform implementation. To achieve this objective, the study put together a comprehensive data set that encompasses country-specific local media coverage of the Doing Business report in 190 economies. The study finds that local media coverage of Doing Business has a significant influence on regulators' actions. First, the analysis shows that the number of local media articles tends to increase the probability of whether a country does any reform. Second, countries with greater media coverage of Doing Business indicators tend to have higher numbers of implemented reforms.

Broadcast and Media --- Business Environment --- Business Reform --- Corruption Perception Index --- Development --- Doing Business --- Enterprise Development and Reform --- Firm Entry --- Freedom of the Press --- Information and Communication Technologies --- Legal Regulation and Business Environment --- Media --- Media Coverage --- Political Action --- Private Sector Development --- Private Sector Economics --- Public Sector Development --- Regulation