Different revenue incentives, different content? Comparing economic news before and during the financial crisis in German public and commercial news outlets over time

Abstract

This study argues that revenue model incentives determine news content. The goal to make profits and the need to sell audiences to advertisers guide journalists’ selection and interpretation of newsworthy material and result in commercialised news. We compare the volume, tone, and the obtrusiveness of topics in all economic news stories for the evening TV news of the public broadcasters ARD and ZDF, the commercial broadcaster RTL, and the tabloid newspaper BILD from 2002 to 2010 in Germany ( n = 26,467). Results indicate that news selection is guided by revenue model incentives since economic news differs by volume and topic between public and commercial outlets. News interpretation, i.e., news tone, stronger varies across the media types TV and print. We conclude that advertising income dependency and observation of competitor behaviour transmits to operative journalistic practices and decisions, which in turn determine journalistic outcome.