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The Impact of Market Competition on Journalistic Performance

This study examines how media competition affects journalistic performance and quality. Findings suggest competition can both enhance and hinder media quality, impacting democracy and economic development.

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The Impact of Market Competition on Journalistic Performance

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  1. The Impact of Market Competition on Journalistic Performance Eva-Maria Jacobsson (CSC, KTH) Lee B. Becker (Cox center, University of Georgia) Tudor Vlad (Cox center, University of Georgia) C. Ann Hollifield (Dept of Telecomm., University of Georgia) Adam Jacobsson (Dept of Economics, Stockholm University) IAMCR 2008 Stockholm

  2. Paper available at: www.grady.uga.edu/coxcenter/ IAMCR 2008 Stockholm

  3. Agenda • Why is this important? • Theory • Definitions of media competition and media performance. • Mechanisms explaining the effect of competition on media performance. • Hypothesis • The data and empirical findings. • Conclusion and future research. IAMCR 2008 Stockholm

  4. Why is this important? • A well functioning media helps: • Citizens to stay informed and to participate in the democratic process. • To keep government and other political and economic elites under scrutiny. • Economic development by disseminating information. • So far, mainstream literature emphasizes the virtues of competition. IAMCR 2008 Stockholm

  5. Definitions • Competition in the media sector is a struggle for; • Readers, advertisers, trained journalists etc. • Key: competition is a function of the number of competitors for a GIVEN level of resources. • Media performance or media quality has many different interpretations, e.g.; • Unbiasedness, informativeness, independency of the organization etc. IAMCR 2008 Stockholm

  6. Effects from competition on media performance • Makes firms try harder (+).. • Smaller profits and budgets to do quality journalism (-). • Product differentiation can lead to a partisan press (-). • Financially weaker firms are more vulnerable to influence peddling (-). IAMCR 2008 Stockholm

  7. Hypercompetition Per unit price Supply curve (reflecting actual costs) C Demand curve Phc + subsidy A Pme Size of subsidy per unit sold B Phc Qme Qhc Quantity IAMCR 2008 Stockholm

  8. Hypotheses Media performance/media quality Intensity of competition IAMCR 2008 Stockholm

  9. The data • Population: 76 emerging media markets where data were available. • Measures: • Index of professional journalism (IREX) • Number of media outlets/GDP IAMCR 2008 Stockholm

  10. Findings – the whole population IAMCR 2008 Stockholm

  11. Findings – Sub-Saharan Africa IAMCR 2008 Stockholm

  12. Countries with low competition: Djibouti, Libya Mauritania, Saudi Arabia Countries with moderate competition not included in these analyses Countries with hypercompetition such as Ukraine, Republic of Congo, Togo The theoretical relationship Media quality Intensity of Competition IAMCR 2008 Stockholm

  13. Conclusion and future research • Our study casts theoretical and empirical doubt on the assumption that more competition is always better. • This is important for the design of, for example, media development. • Need for better and more data. • Goal: find country specific indicators for what is a good level of media competition. IAMCR 2008 Stockholm

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