Full Citation

Title: What Drives Media Slant? Evidence From US Daily Newspapers

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2010

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI:

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: We construct a new index of media slant that measures the similarity of a news outlet's language to that of a congressional Republican or Democrat. We estimate a model of newspaper demand that incorporates slant explicitly, estimate the slant that would be chosen if newspapers independently maximized their own profits, and compare these profit-maximizing points with firms' actual choices. We find that readers have an economically significant preference for like-minded news. Firms respond strongly to consumer preferences, which account for roughly 20 percent of the variation in measured slant in our sample. By contrast, the identity of a newspaper's owner explains far less of the variation in slant.

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Shapiro, Jesse M.; Gentzkow, Matthew

Periodical (Full): Econometrica

Issue: 1

Volume: 78

Pages: 35-71

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Other

Countries: