Changing attitudes are the result of a battle for hearts and minds in which agents for and against change try to persuade others. We know very little about this process. We develop a methodology for measuring the intensity and the contents of media coverage for and against an idea which we apply to attitudes to gay rights. We uncover several stylized facts: First, the diffusion process of both pro- and anti-gay rights language in the US newspapers follow an S-shaped pattern, characteristic of diffusion processes. Anti-gay rights coverage starts its diffusion process later but then catches up. Second, in the year gay marriages are introduced, we observe a dramatic increase in coverage of both pro- and anti-gay rights language; the increase in the latter is larger. The rise in coverage is still present in the 3 years after the institutional change. Third, there is substantial spatial autocorrelation in media coverage (JEL J15, Z1).

中文翻译：

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同性恋权利辩论的动态：来自美国报纸的证据

改变态度是一场心灵和思想斗争的结果，在这场斗争中，支持和反对改变的代理人试图说服他人。我们对这个过程知之甚少。我们开发了一种方法来衡量媒体报道的强度和内容，支持和反对我们应用于对同性恋权利的态度的想法。我们发现了几个典型的事实：首先，美国报纸中支持和反对同性恋权利的语言的传播过程均遵循 S 形模式，具有传播过程的特征。反同性恋权利覆盖开始其传播过程较晚，但随后迎头赶上。其次，在引入同性婚姻的那一年，我们观察到支持和反对同性恋权利的语言的覆盖面急剧增加；后者的增幅更大。在机构变革后的 3 年内，覆盖率的上升仍然存在。