Economy and media: who gets into the newspaper? – Business

In science, success is measured primarily through publications in high-ranking specialist journals. There is often little incentive for researchers to disseminate their results outside of the academic world. But in order to fulfill their educational mandate, universities should place more emphasis on teaching science. This week the annual meeting of the Verein für Socialpolitik takes place. The conference is considered to be the largest platform for German-speaking economists in this country. Journalists can look here for studies that are also relevant and interesting for the general public. But which research will arouse particular interest?

Lennart Ziegler researches and teaches in the field of empirical microeconomics at the Institute for Economics at the University of Vienna.

(Photo: oH)

So far, little is known to what extent the scientific output is received by the media. While the academic response is a key success indicator for researchers and can be easily quantified using various quote-based rankings, the impact on public discourse receives far less attention. Not every study that is successful in academia needs to meet with similar media interest. In a recent analysis I therefore examined the extent to which current economic study results are mentioned in six high-reach international media. The websites of New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Economist and CNN.

The analysis refers to almost 10,000 studies that have been published for the first time in the past ten years by the US National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a well-known publication series for discussion papers. These discussion papers have not yet been finally assessed by scientific journals, but allow an earlier debate in the professional world. They are also known by their names Working paper or Preprint (This formulation became relatively well known through the Drosten podcast).

In order to make it possible to evaluate the large amounts of data, an automated search was made for articles available online that named one or more of the researchers in a study. In addition to regular articles, the online content also includes blog posts that specifically discuss studies or refer to them in a discussion.

The statistical analysis shows that there is great media interest in new research results. Of the approximately 20 discussion papers per week, every eleventh study is mentioned in at least one of the six media formats in the first month after publication. There are, however, major differences between the media examined. While some formats discuss new releases in regular articles, other media report far more selectively. That Wall Street Journal wrote most of the articles, but the online presence of the news channel CNN hardly contains any references to the research papers examined.

What is popular in science is also cited more often by the media

Compared to economic theory, empirical studies that analyze data on a specific issue and often have direct implications for economics and politics are taken up much more often. Studies with a US connection in particular arouse particular interest in the media examined, most of which are based in the USA.

Certain differences in media popularity can also be identified between the various research fields within economics. Studies on the labor market and macroeconomic research are mentioned most frequently. Methodical research, on the other hand, is rare, probably also because the gain in knowledge is limited for a broad audience.

The analysis of the contributions also shows that the interests of the media and researchers often overlap. Studies with high media popularity are on average also cited more frequently in scientific journals. A similar connection can be seen between the media presence of the studies and the scientific success of the respective authors. Even if the reporting itself can have a positive influence on academic success, the strong correlation suggests that the scientific response is a good indicator of the media dissemination of the content.

When the media report on new studies, not all researchers involved are always mentioned by name in the articles. The economist Justin Wolfers pointed out pointed out in an articlethat women scientists often get less attention in the media and are overshadowed by their male co-authors. At least for the studies examined, however, there is no evidence that the background of the authors plays an important role in media presence. Neither academic success nor gender have a decisive influence on the selective naming of individual researchers.

Newspapers and magazines serve as an important link between the academic world and the general public. You will find studies relevant to the readership and describe them in such a way that they can be understood even without prior knowledge. In addition, reference is often made to scientific studies when reporting on current political decisions. Research results are not only interesting for decision-makers, but also help the general public to better evaluate social and political developments. This also serves to counteract the risk that the scientific and social discourse will diverge from one another.

In Germany there is no platform that has a reach comparable to that of the NBER in the USA. However, there are other channels to make the latest research results visible, such as the publication series of the major economic research institutes. In addition, economics has long been a globally networked research community. International research is increasingly being received in national media, especially if the research topic is directly related to the country in question. It can therefore be assumed that the results of the analysis could also apply to the German-speaking media at least to a similar extent.

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