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The unbundling of journalism

Author

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  • Michele Bisceglia

    (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

Abstract

Due to the switching behavior of online consumers, news outlets increasingly compete with each other to attract audience for each single news item they produce, rather than for complete editions of their newspapers: the so called unbundling of journalism. Using a standard Hotelling model, I show that online competition unambiguously reduces news articles' quality, as compared to the scenario in which outlets compete to sell their newspapers (content bundles) to single-homing consumers. The unbundling of journalism also dampens outlets' newsgathering activities when their ideological positions are relatively unimportant from consumers' viewpoint. In this case, consumers are worse off in the online market for news, even though they consume more articles and have low disutility from switching.

Suggested Citation

  • Michele Bisceglia, 2023. "The unbundling of journalism," Post-Print hal-04941017, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04941017
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2023.104532
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04941017v1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Pietro Nickl & Mehdi Moussaïd & Philipp Lorenz-Spreen, 2025. "The evolution of online news headlines," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, December.

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