Research Briefs·Jun 11, 2024

What is Newsworthy? Theory and Evidence

The events that news outlets select for coverage can be largely explained with a statistic that captures how unexpected they are, suggesting that reporting may be less biased than it appears.
Luis Armona, Emir Kamenica, and Jesse M. Shapiro
Based on BFI Working Paper No. 2024-67, “What is Newsworthy? Theory and Evidence”
1Frankel, Alexander, and Emir Kamenica. “Quantifying Information and Uncertainty.” American Economic Review 109, no. 10 (October 1, 2019): 3650–80.
doi.org/10.1257/aer.20181897; Frankel, Alexander, and Maximilian Kasy. “Which Findings Should Be Published?” American Economic Journal: Microeconomics 14, no. 1 (February 1, 2022): 1–38. doi.org/10.1257/mic.20190133. 
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