Download This PaperImpact of Media Ownership on News Coverage
Forthcoming Management Science
48 Pages Posted: 5 Mar 2021 Last revised: 17 Sep 2025
Date Written: January 25, 2021
Abstract
This paper examines whether ownership by media conglomerates impacts business news reporting. To address this question, we take advantage of a unique setting when in 2007 the ownership of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) was transferred to News Corp., a media conglomerate with broad business interests. We find that after the acquisition, the WSJ's sentiment towards competitors of News Corp. became significantly negative in comparison to similar reporting conducted by the New York Times. Further, WSJ’s reporting influences stock prices and is associated with more profitable insider trading. This evidence suggests that ownership by media conglomerates likely influences the nature of business news coverage.
Keywords: Media Ownership, Competitors, WSJ coverage, Media Bias, News Coverage
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