Paying for crisis news: the dilemmas of news organizations

Bakker, Gerben (2015) Paying for crisis news: the dilemmas of news organizations. In: Schifferes, Steve and Roberts, Richard, (eds.) The Media and Financial Crises: Comparative and Historical Perspectives. Routledge, Abingdon, UK, pp. 187-200. ISBN 9781138022799

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Abstract

This paper discusses the problem, implied by Arrow’s fundamental paradox of information, of how to make money from news. To earn money from important news, news traders need to tell the potential buyer what it is, yet once they have revealed it, the buyer no longer needs to pay. This paper discusses how historically this paradox made it difficult for news agencies to profit from selling important news during crises, and how they gradually developed new business models in response. It examines these models and investigates how they interacted with market structure, resulting in just a few international news agencies dominating the international news supply.

Item Type:	Book Section
Official URL:	http://www.routledge.com/
Additional Information:	© 2015 The Author
Library of Congress subject classification:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HE Transportation and Communications P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1990 Broadcasting
Journal of Economic Literature Classification System:	L - Industrial Organization > L1 - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance L - Industrial Organization > L1 - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance > L15 - Information and Product Quality; Standardization and Compatibility L - Industrial Organization > L8 - Industry Studies: Services > L82 - Entertainment; Media (Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Broadcasting, Publishing, etc.) L - Industrial Organization > L8 - Industry Studies: Services > L86 - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software L - Industrial Organization > L8 - Industry Studies: Services > L87 - Postal and Delivery Services L - Industrial Organization > L9 - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities > L96 - Telecommunications N - Economic History > N7 - Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, Technology, and Other Services > N70 - General, International, or Comparative N - Economic History > N8 - Micro-Business History > N80 - General, International, or Comparative Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology > Z10 - General
Sets:	Departments > Accounting Departments > Economic History Collections > Economists Online
Funders:	Economic and Social Research Council
Projects:	RES-331-25-3012
Date Deposited:	11 Feb 2015 11:45
URL:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/60918/

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