Media Proliferation and Partisan Selective Exposure

42 Pages Posted: 10 May 2010 Last revised: 6 Aug 2014

See all articles by Jimmy Chan

Jimmy Chan

Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

Daniel F. Stone

Bowdoin College - Department of Economics

Date Written: December 1, 2011

Abstract

The number of Internet news media outlets has increased rapidly in recent years. We analyze the effects of media proliferation on electoral outcomes and social welfare. We assume voters are information-seeking as media consumers but choose outlets that are excessively partisan, given the voters' ideologies, due to quasi-rationality. We find that if voters who prefer extreme news -- either because they have extreme ideologies, or have moderate ideologies but make irrational news choices -- can be the median voter, then media proliferation strictly improves welfare. Otherwise, proliferation causes welfare to change non-monotonically, but still protects against very poor welfare outcomes that can occur when the number of outlets is small.

Keywords: Media Bias, Media Competition, Internet Media, Quasi-rationality, Blogs, Elections

JEL Classification: D72, D81, D83, L82

Suggested Citation

Chan, Jimmy and Stone, Daniel F., Media Proliferation and Partisan Selective Exposure (December 1, 2011). Public Choice, 156(3-4), 2013, p.467–490., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1601604 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1601604

Jimmy Chan

Shanghai University of Finance and Economics ( email )

777 Guoding Road
Shanghai, AK Shanghai 200433
China

Daniel F. Stone (Contact Author)

Bowdoin College - Department of Economics ( email )

Brunswick, ME 04011
United States
6463387833 (Phone)

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