Insights / Research Brief•Jun 11, 2024

What is Newsworthy? Theory and Evidence

Luis Armona, Matthew Gentzkow, Emir Kamenica, Jesse M. Shapiro

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.

Based on BFI Working Paper No. 2024-67, “What is Newsworthy? Theory and Evidence”

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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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