Advertising spending and media bias: evidence from news coverage of car safety recalls
Do mass media bias content in favor of advertisers? If so, what market conditions limit or exacerbate this bias? We examine the relationship between advertising by auto manufacturers in U.S. newspapers and news coverage of car safety recalls between 2000 and 2014. This context allows us to separate...
| Autores: | , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión aceptada para publicación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2020 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Pompeu Fabra |
| Repositorio: | Repositorio Digital de la UPF |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/46773 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10230/46773 http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2019.3567 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Media bias Advertising Newspapers Car manufacturers Safety recalls |
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Advertising spending and media bias: evidence from news coverage of car safety recalls Beattie, Graham Durante, Ruben, 1978- Knight, Brian Sen, Ananya Media bias Advertising Newspapers Car manufacturers Safety recalls Do mass media bias content in favor of advertisers? If so, what market conditions limit or exacerbate this bias? We examine the relationship between advertising by auto manufacturers in U.S. newspapers and news coverage of car safety recalls between 2000 and 2014. This context allows us to separate the influence of advertisers, who prefer less coverage, from that of readers, who prefer more information about the safety risks associated with the recalls. Consistent with theoretical predictions, we find that newspapers provide less coverage of recalls issued by manufacturers that advertised more regularly on their pages over the previous two years. The effect is especially pronounced for more severe recalls, which are more likely to hurt manufacturers’ reputations. Competition for readers from other newspapers mitigates proadvertiser bias, and competition for advertising by online platforms exacerbates it. We also present suggestive evidence that less news coverage of recalls is associated with more fatal car accidents. The authors thankfully acknowledge financial support from the University of Toronto, Brown University, Barcelona GSE, the Jean Jacques Laffont Digital Chair, MIT IDE, and LIEPP. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program [Grant 759885]. INFORMS http://hdl.handle.net/10230/46773 http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2019.3567 |
| title |
Advertising spending and media bias: evidence from news coverage of car safety recalls |
| spellingShingle |
Advertising spending and media bias: evidence from news coverage of car safety recalls Beattie, Graham Media bias Advertising Newspapers Car manufacturers Safety recalls |
| title_short |
Advertising spending and media bias: evidence from news coverage of car safety recalls |
| title_full |
Advertising spending and media bias: evidence from news coverage of car safety recalls |
| title_fullStr |
Advertising spending and media bias: evidence from news coverage of car safety recalls |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Advertising spending and media bias: evidence from news coverage of car safety recalls |
| title_sort |
Advertising spending and media bias: evidence from news coverage of car safety recalls |
| author |
Beattie, Graham |
| author_facet |
Beattie, Graham Durante, Ruben, 1978- Knight, Brian Sen, Ananya |
| author_role |
author |
| author2 |
Durante, Ruben, 1978- Knight, Brian Sen, Ananya |
| author2_role |
author author author |
| topic |
Media bias Advertising Newspapers Car manufacturers Safety recalls |
| topic_facet |
Media bias Advertising Newspapers Car manufacturers Safety recalls |
| description |
Do mass media bias content in favor of advertisers? If so, what market conditions limit or exacerbate this bias? We examine the relationship between advertising by auto manufacturers in U.S. newspapers and news coverage of car safety recalls between 2000 and 2014. This context allows us to separate the influence of advertisers, who prefer less coverage, from that of readers, who prefer more information about the safety risks associated with the recalls. Consistent with theoretical predictions, we find that newspapers provide less coverage of recalls issued by manufacturers that advertised more regularly on their pages over the previous two years. The effect is especially pronounced for more severe recalls, which are more likely to hurt manufacturers’ reputations. Competition for readers from other newspapers mitigates proadvertiser bias, and competition for advertising by online platforms exacerbates it. We also present suggestive evidence that less news coverage of recalls is associated with more fatal car accidents. |
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2020 |
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article |
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http://hdl.handle.net/10230/46773 http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2019.3567 |
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openAccess |
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INFORMS |
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Universitat Pompeu Fabra |
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Repositorio Digital de la UPF |
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Repositorio Digital de la UPF |
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Universitat Pompeu Fabra |
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1878433955309420544 |
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2020 |
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Beattie, Graham Durante, Ruben, 1978- Knight, Brian Sen, Ananya |
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INFORMS |
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6,9303427 |