Demand for Online News under Government Control: Evidence from Russia

Justin Rao

No 16233, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We examine the nature of consumer demand for government-controlled online news outlets in Russia, testing whether such demand reflects a preference for pro-government ideological coverage, or other factors unrelated to outlets' ideological positions. We detect government-sensitive topics and measure outlets' news reporting decisions from news article texts, and estimate a structural model of demand for news using detailed browsing data that traces individual-level consumption. The average consumer has a distaste for pro-government ideology but a strong persistent taste for state-owned outlets, primarily driven by third-party referrals and non-sensitive news content. We discuss implications for online media control and media power.

Keywords: Media; Media capture; Censorship; Demand for news; Product differentiation; Text as data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C11 C55 D72 L15 L82 L86 M31 P26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-06
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