News credibility and the quest for clicks

Kohei Kawamura and Mark T. Le Quement

Journal of Public Economics, 2023, vol. 227, issue C

Abstract: We examine a model of dynamic communication by a media outlet. In each period, the uninformed public can consult the outlet’s report at a cost. The outlet, which is primarily driven by profit maximization, has an incentive to induce uncertainty in order to encourage future consultation and thereby generate revenue. In an intermediate cost range, the public and the outlet may be worse off with a cheaper cost of access since it leads the outlet to distort information more, by making the public’s future consultation decision more responsive to the current report.

Keywords: Cheap talk; Strategic information transmission; Media; Markovian processes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D81 D83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:227:y:2023:i:c:s0047272723001871

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2023.105005

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