The Effect of Entertainment in Newspaper and Television News Coverage

Arbeitspapier

In this paper, we analyze the equilibrium amount of entertainment in news coverage of newspapers and television stations. We find that a shift in the inclination to read, expressed by a shift in the (psychological) distance costs, induces both media outlets to incorporate more entertaining elements in news coverage. The introduction of commercial television, however, which leads to a unilateral fall in the distance costs to the television broadcast, yields different results. It induces a negative effect on the profits of both media outlets, and increases price competition. Furthermore, the newspaper offers less while the television channel offers more entertainment. Overall, this leads to a marginalization of informational content, as the television channel gains market shares at the expense of the newspaper.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Munich Discussion Paper ; No. 2010-28

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior ; Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets ; Entertainment; Media
• Subject: media economics ; industrial organization ; media bias ; horizontal product differentiation ; duopoly ; Zeitung ; Fernsehen ; Duopol ; Produktdifferenzierung ; Event-Marketing ; Wettbewerb ; Mediennutzung ; Medienökonomik ; Industrieökonomik ; Theorie

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Greiner, Tanja
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Volkswirtschaftliche Fakultät
• (where): München
• (when): 2010

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.5282/ubm/epub.11551
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/104318
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:19-epub-11551-9
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET