4th Economics of Media Bias Workshop

The 2019 edition of the workshop at the WZB Berlin Social Research Center featured more than twenty talks and poster presentations. Keynote speaker Eliana La Ferrara presented insights on the potential of entertainment media to challenge dictatorships.

The first two sessions addressed the nexus of social media, protests, and misinformation; the phenomenon of media capture through favor exchange; the political positioning of news outlets; the role of online partisan media in shaping political attitudes; news sharing by German Members of Parliament; and the impact of online media exposure on political attitudes.

Afterwards, discussions covered topics around the demand for government-controlled news in Russia and the effects of censorship and propaganda on political popularity. Day two continued the exploration with sessions on the influence of biased foreign media on policy preferences and the impact of changes in newspapers’ political orientation on voting behavior, as well as the dynamics of partisan selective engagement on Facebook. In concluding sessions, researchers discussed issues pertaining to media slant in the coverage of presidential debates; economic policy reporting during uncertain times; and the historical perspective on media’s role in shaping public opinion during the 19th century. The conference also featured a poster session, covering topics such as estimating demand in two-sided markets; electoral cycle bias in corruption news coverage; the structure of user feedback on social media; and the role of TV shows and social media in shaping sentiment.