市场化中的媒体：基于报纸汽车召回报道的实证研究

Abstract

This article analyzes the economic incentives of newspapers during the process of marketization. Based on report data from 530 newspapers on 172 domestic car recall events, we show that compared with party newspapers, non-party newspapers which are more marketized tend to report car recall events more actively, especially about non-local ones. We further collect automobile manufacturers' advertisements on 61 newspapers as the proxy for potential demand for certain manufacturers' cars. Results show that non-party newspapers tend to report more recall events of non-local manufacturers with higher advertisement costs. The relationship between reports and advertisement level for the local manufacturers however is not significant, implying that non-party newspapers tend to protect local firms. One explanation is that marketization provides stronger economic incentives for non-party newspapers and their reports are more vulnerable to the influence of market demand and advertisement. This article provides evidence for media bias from developing countries, which also sheds some light on regional protectionism in China.