Media Bias and Business Models (with Jenna Blochowicz)

Over the past decade and a half, the online news industry has weathered major upheavals in how it generates revenue and reaches readers. After a period of heavy reliance on social media platforms for distribution, many news outlets have pivoted to proprietary ad systems or doubled down on subscription-based models. At the same time, partisan distrust in media has surged, leading readers to gravitate towards sources that align with their political beliefs. We investigate how the choice of business model by newspapers affects their political coverage, and how responsive they are to the political leanings of their audience. We hypothesize that more subscription-heavy newspapers are more likely to be partisan in the direction of their subscribers. We also hypothesize that more ad-reliant news organizations are less likely to be partisan.