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The Determination of Newspaper Slant in Small Markets

By Jordyn Gracey

This paper takes the assertion, made by Gentzkow et al., that newspaper slant is primarily determined by slant as given. Both that paper and this one use Hotelling as a foundation. However, this paper considers what happens when the distribution of ideological preferences differs at national and county levels. This paper controls for the size of the market in which the newspapers are operating as well as for the make-­‐up of the county-­‐level population. Findings show that demand is a robust determinant of slant across market sizes and that supply-­‐side factors rarely have significant impact on slant. In the two cases where ownership does have an effect on slant, it is in regressions where the largest-­‐circulating newspapers have been dropped. We determine that if ownership is important it is when control is more centralized,if a newspaper is operating in a small market or if the owner chooses the slant before deciding which market to enter.

Honor’s Thesis

Data Set

Advisor: Michelle Connolly | JEL Codes: L2, L21, L4, L22, L25, L44, Y8 | Tagged: Firm Behavior, Conglomerates, Product Strategy

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Michelle P. Connolly
michelle.connolly@duke.edu