There is a growing literature on media bias and, more generally, on how does the so called  marketplace of ideas really work. By far, this is not a new topic but it is only recently that mainstream economists became interested in the topic. Matthew Gentzkow and Jesse M. Shapiro make a very clear and comprehensive introduction to this literature in their article: “Competition and Truth in the Market for News” (Journal of Economic Perspectives 22(2), Spring 2008). The piece has a number of interesting quotations:

[T]he best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market . . . That at least is the theory of our Constitution. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Abrams v. United States (250 U.S. 616 [1919])

The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. — Hugo Black, New York Times Co. v. United States (403 U.S. 713 [1971]) Continue reading →