The Demand for News: Accuracy Concerns Versus Belief Confirmation Motives

Felix Chopras, Ingar Haaland and Christopher Roth

The Economic Journal, 2024, vol. 134, issue 661, 1806-1834

Abstract: We examine the relative importance of accuracy concerns and belief confirmation motives in driving the demand for news. In experiments with US voters, we first vary beliefs about whether an outlet reports the news in a right-wing biased, left-wing biased or unbiased way. We then measure demand for a newsletter covering articles from this outlet. Right-wing voters strongly reduce their demand for left-wing biased news, but not for right-wing biased news. The reverse patterns hold for left-wing voters. These results suggest a trade-off between accuracy concerns and belief confirmation motives. We quantify this trade-off using a structural model and find a similar quantitative importance of both motives.

Date: 2024
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Related works:
Working Paper: The Demand for News: Accuracy Concerns versus Belief Confirmation Motives (2024)
Working Paper: The Demand for News: Accuracy Concerns versus Belief Confirmation Motives (2023)
Working Paper: The Demand for News: Accuracy Concerns versus Belief Confirmation Motives (2022)
Working Paper: The Demand for News: Accuracy Concerns Versus Belief Confirmation Motives (2022)
Working Paper: The Demand for News: Accuracy Concerns versus Belief Confirmation Motives (2022)
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