ABSTRACT
Several recent books have accused mainline media outlets of reporting news with a heavy political bias. Bernard Goldberg (2002) and Ann Coulter (2003) argue that the bias is on the left, and provide numerous illustrations of their argument, while Eric Alterman (2003) and Al Franken (2003) argue that the bias is on the right, with equally numerous illustrations. In principle, media bias can come from the supply side, and reflect the preferences of journalists (David Baron, 2004), editors, or owners (Besley and Andrea Prat, 2004; Simeon Djankov et al., 2003). Alternatively, it can come from the demand side, and reflect the news providers’ profit-maximizing choice to cater to the preferences of the consumers. We examine, theoretically, the determinants of media accuracy in such a demand-side model, focusing specifically on the effects of reader beliefs, reader heterogeneity, and competition on media bias. We argue that the analysis of media accuracy relies crucially on how one conceptualizes the demand for news.
