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Competition and Commercial Media Bias

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  • A. Blasco
  • F. Sobbrio

Abstract

This paper reviews the empirical evidence on commercial media bias (i.e., advertisers inuence over news reports) and then introduces a simple model to summarize the main elements of the theoretical literature. The analysis provides three main policy insights for media regulators: i) Media regulators should target their monitoring efforts towards news contents upon which advertisers are likely to share similar preferences; ii) In advertising industries characterized by highly correlated products, an increase in the degreeof competition may translate into a lower accuracy of news reports; iii) A sufficiently high degree of competition in the market for news may drive out commercial media bias.

Suggested Citation

  • A. Blasco & F. Sobbrio, 2011. "Competition and Commercial Media Bias," Working Papers wp767, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    • Handle: RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp767
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    Cited by:

    1. Alaoui, Larbi & Germano, Fabrizio, 2020. "Time scarcity and the market for news," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 173-195.
    2. Carlini, Federico & Farina, Vincenzo & Gufler, Ivan & Previtali, Daniele, 2024. "Do stress and overstatement in the news affect the stock market? Evidence from COVID-19 news in The Wall Street Journal," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. Pannicke, Julia, 2015. "Media bias in women's magazines: Do advertisements influence editorial content?," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 99, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    4. Jun Hu, 2021. "Regulation of media bias on online newspapers," Working Papers hal-03120466, HAL.
    5. Balmer, Roberto, 2013. "Entry and Competition in Local Newspaper Retail Markets - When two are enough," MPRA Paper 54079, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Kerkhof, Anna & Münster, Johannes, 2015. "Quantity restrictions on advertising, commercial media bias, and welfare," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 124-141.
    7. Anna Kerkhof & Johannes Münster, 2023. "Strategic Complementarities in a Model of Commercial Media Bias," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 261, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    8. Anna Kerkhof & Johannes Münster, 2023. "Strategic Complementarities in a Model of Commercial Media Bias," CESifo Working Paper Series 10738, CESifo.
    9. Blasco, Andrea & Pin, Paolo & Sobbrio, Francesco, 2016. "Paying positive to go negative: Advertisers׳ competition and media reports," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 243-261.
    10. Carlini, Federico & Cucinelli, Doriana & Previtali, Daniele & Soana, Maria Gaia, 2020. "Don't talk too bad! stock market reactions to bank corporate governance news," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    11. Germano, Fabrizio & Meier, Martin, 2013. "Concentration and self-censorship in commercial media," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 117-130.
    12. Sendhil Mullainathan & Andrei Shleifer, 2005. "The Market for News," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1031-1053, September.
    13. Serena Marianna Drufuca, 2014. "Information, Media and Elections: Incentives for Media Capture," Working Papers (2013-) 1402, University of Bergamo, Department of Management, Economics and Quantitative Methods.
    14. Jiménez, Juan Luis & Perdiguero, Jordi & Gutiérrez, Inmaculada, 2022. "Bias in media coverage of antitrust actions," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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