IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v707y2023i1p74-89.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The New News Barons: Investment Ownership Reduces Newspaper Reporting Capacity

Author

Listed:
  • Erik Peterson
  • Johanna Dunaway

Abstract

In recent years, local media in the U.S. have faced increasing economic precarity, and many newspapers have been purchased by hedge funds and private equity firms. How do investment owners shape the newspapers they acquire? We document the shift in ownership and its impact on the number and type of journalists that local newsrooms employ. Using over 13,000 digitized media directory pages, we measure the newsrooms of 211 major newspapers from 2005 to 2022. We estimate that the acquisition of a newspaper by an investment owner reduced the paper’s newsroom by nine reporters and editors compared to newspapers that remained under other ownership, a cut equivalent to 14 percent of the average newspaper’s staff. These cuts were concentrated among positions focused on general assignment and political reporting. Our findings indicate the rise of investment owners has accelerated the decline of local newspapers.

Suggested Citation

  • Erik Peterson & Johanna Dunaway, 2023. "The New News Barons: Investment Ownership Reduces Newspaper Reporting Capacity," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 74-89, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:707:y:2023:i:1:p:74-89
    DOI: 10.1177/00027162231211426
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00027162231211426
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00027162231211426?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Moskowitz, Daniel J., 2021. "Local News, Information, and the Nationalization of U.S. Elections," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 115(1), pages 114-129, February.
    2. James M. Snyder & David Strömberg, 2010. "Press Coverage and Political Accountability," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(2), pages 355-408, April.
    3. MARTIN, GREGORY J. & McCRAIN, JOSHUA, 2019. "Local News and National Politics," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 113(2), pages 372-384, May.
    4. Matthew Gentzkow & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2010. "What Drives Media Slant? Evidence From U.S. Daily Newspapers," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(1), pages 35-71, January.
    5. Lewis A. Friedland, 2023. "Taking It to the States: The Origins of Critical Information Needs," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 21-28, May.
    6. Jessica Mahone, 2023. "An Overview of State and Local Legislation to Support Local News: Policy Mechanisms and Challenges to Impact," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 46-61, May.
    7. Stephanie Edgerly & Yu Xu, 2023. "Local-Level Information-Seeking in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Repertoire Approach," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 172-188, May.
    8. Joseph Torres & Collette Watson, 2023. "Repairing Journalism’s History of Anti-Black Harm," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 208-227, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ava Francesca Battocchio & Kjerstin Thorson & Dan Hiaeshutter-Rice & Marisa Smith & Yingying Chen & Stephanie Edgerly & Kelley Cotter & Hyesun Choung & Chuqing Dong & Moldir Moldagaliyeva & Christophe, 2023. "Who Will Tell the Stories of Health Inequities? Platform Challenges (and Opportunities) in Local Civic Information Infrastructure," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 144-171, May.
    2. Lourdes M. Cueva Chacón & Jessica Retis, 2023. "¿Qué pasa with American News Media? How Digital-Native Latinx News Serves Community Information Needs Using Messaging Apps," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 237-255, May.
    3. Kokil Jaidka & Sean Fischer & Yphtach Lelkes & Yifei Wang, 2023. "News Nationalization in a Digital Age: An Examination of How Local Protests Are Covered and Curated Online," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 189-207, May.
    4. Patricia D. Posey, 2023. "Information Inequality: How Race and Financial Access Reflect the Information Needs of Lower-Income Individuals," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 125-141, May.
    5. Joshua P. Darr, 2023. "How Sticky Is Pink Slime? Assessing the Credibility of Deceptive Local Media," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 109-124, May.
    6. Joseph Torres & Collette Watson, 2023. "Repairing Journalism’s History of Anti-Black Harm," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 208-227, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Charles Angelucci & Julia Cagé & Michael Sinkinson, 2024. "Media Competition and News Diets," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 62-102, May.
    2. Ava Francesca Battocchio & Kjerstin Thorson & Dan Hiaeshutter-Rice & Marisa Smith & Yingying Chen & Stephanie Edgerly & Kelley Cotter & Hyesun Choung & Chuqing Dong & Moldir Moldagaliyeva & Christophe, 2023. "Who Will Tell the Stories of Health Inequities? Platform Challenges (and Opportunities) in Local Civic Information Infrastructure," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 144-171, May.
    3. Nicola Mastrorocco & Arianna Ornaghi, 2020. "Who Watches the Watchmen? Local News and Police Behavior in the United States," Trinity Economics Papers tep0720, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2020.
    4. Brian Knight & Ana Tribin, 2022. "Opposition Media, State Censorship, and Political Accountability: Evidence from Chavez’s Venezuela," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 36(2), pages 455-487.
    5. Marcel Garz & Jonna Rickardsson, 2023. "Ownership and media slant: Evidence from Swedish newspapers," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(1), pages 18-40, February.
    6. Marcel Garz & Maiting Zhuang, 2024. "Media coverage and pandemic behavior: Evidence from Sweden," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(6), pages 1319-1367, June.
    7. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/4ec86lkes59hv9tfv77ld1p5fr is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Ruben Durante & Andrea Fabiani & Luc Laeven & José-Luis Peydró, 2021. "Media capture by banks," Economics Working Papers 1817, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Mar 2022.
    9. Charles Angelucci & Julia Cage & Michael Sinkinson, 2020. "Media Competition and News Diets," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03393063, HAL.
    10. Charles Angelucci & Julia Cage & Michael Sinkinson, 2020. "Media Competition and News Diets," SciencePo Working papers hal-03393063, HAL.
    11. Balles, Patrick & Matter, Ulrich & Stutzer, Alois, 2023. "Television market size and political accountability in the U.S. House of Representatives," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    12. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4ec86lkes59hv9tfv77ld1p5fr is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Philine Widmer & Sergio Galletta & Elliott Ash, 2022. "Media Slant is Contagious," Papers 2202.07269, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2023.
    14. Bernhardt, Lea & Dewenter, Ralf & Thomas, Tobias, 2023. "Measuring partisan media bias in US newscasts from 2001 to 2012," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    15. Sharma, Priyanka & Wagman, Liad, 2020. "Advertising and Voter Data in Asymmetric Political Contests," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    16. Kokil Jaidka & Sean Fischer & Yphtach Lelkes & Yifei Wang, 2023. "News Nationalization in a Digital Age: An Examination of How Local Protests Are Covered and Curated Online," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 189-207, May.
    17. Federico Boffa & Amedeo Piolatto & Giacomo A. M. Ponzetto, 2016. "Political Centralization and Government Accountability," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(1), pages 381-422.
    18. Milena Djourelova & Ruben Durante & Gregory J. Martin, 2021. "The Impact of Online Competition on Local Newspapers: Evidence from the Introduction of Craigslist," CESifo Working Paper Series 9090, CESifo.
    19. Filipe R. Campante & Quoc-Anh Do, 2014. "Isolated Capital Cities, Accountability, and Corruption: Evidence from US States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(8), pages 2456-2481, August.
    20. Dewenter, Ralf & Dulleck, Uwe & Thomas, Tobias, 2018. "The political coverage index and its application to government capture," Research Papers 6, EcoAustria – Institute for Economic Research.
    21. Graham Beattie & Ruben Durante & Brian Knight & Ananya Sen, 2021. "Advertising Spending and Media Bias: Evidence from News Coverage of Car Safety Recalls," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(2), pages 698-719, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:707:y:2023:i:1:p:74-89. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.