American Economic Review: Insights
ISSN 2640-205X (Print) | ISSN 2640-2068 (Online)
What Is Newsworthy? Theory and Evidence
American Economic Review: Insights
(pp. 354–73)
Abstract
We introduce a model in which a benevolent news outlet decides whether to report the realization of a state to a consumer, who pays a cost to receive it. A simple statistical rule, called a proper scoring rule, describes when the outlet should be more likely to report the realization. Using data from the US television news, we show that a particular scoring rule successfully predicts many salient features of news reporting. We show how to use this rule as a control variable to discipline tests of reporting bias, and we show that controlling for it matters in our applications.Citation
Armona, Luis, Matthew Gentzkow, Emir Kamenica, and Jesse M. Shapiro. 2026. "What Is Newsworthy? Theory and Evidence." American Economic Review: Insights 8 (3): 354–73. DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20240285Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
- C44 Operations Research; Statistical Decision Theory
- L82 Entertainment; Media