Local Journalism under Private Equity Ownership

Michael Ewens, Arpit Gupta and Sabrina T. Howell

No 29743, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Local daily newspapers historically played an important role in U.S. democracy by providing citizens with information about local policy issues. In recent decades, local newspapers have struggled to compete with new online platforms. In the first study of private equity (PE) in a struggling industry, we find nuanced effects. PE leads to higher digital circulation and lower chances of newspaper exit. However, the composition of news shifts away from local governance, the number of reporters and editors falls, and participation in local elections declines. The results have implications for knowledge about local policy issues and highlight trade-offs surrounding media ownership.

JEL-codes: G23 G32 H42 L82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ban, nep-cfn and nep-fmk
Note: CF DAE PE POL PR
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Working Paper: Local Journalism under Private Equity Ownership (2021)
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