All the news That’s fit to click: the economics of clickbait media

Munger, Kevin

doi:10.1080/10584609.2019.1687626

Cited by 175Misinformation and Its ImpactsMedia Influence and PoliticsMedia Studies and Communication

All the news That’s fit to click: the economics of clickbait media

Munger, Kevin·2020·Political Communication

DOI 10.1080/10584609.2019.1687626

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Abstract

The news media industry has changed as the internet and social media have matured and become integral to modern life. I describe these changes through a theoretical analysis of the economic structure of the industry and explore the implications for scholars of online media and politics. The crux of my argument is that social media simultaneously serves as a distribution platform and reputation builder, as social recommendations take the place of expensive investments in high-quality journalism. This development rendered crucial portions of previous models of the market for news inaccurate due to the declining importance of firm reputation. This mechanism interacts with the massive heterogeneity in digital literacy and growing animosity toward the news media among conservatives to create “credibility cascades,” which I argue are a necessary condition for Fake News to flourish.

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From The Second Wave of Attention Economics. Attention as a Universal Symbolic Currency on Social Media and beyond (2025) · cites this paper as Munger, 2020

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Authors: Munger, K.
Affiliations: Pennsylvania State University (US)
Corresponding author: Munger, Kevin
ORCID: Munger, Kevin
Venue: Political Communication
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Published: 2019-12-03
Volume: 37
Issue: 3
Pages: 376-397
ISSN: 1058-4609 (ISSN-L)
1091-7675
DOI: 10.1080/10584609.2019.1687626
OpenAlex: W2992434016
Cited by: 175
References: 65
Citations by year: 2026: 16 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 29 · 2023: 43 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1
FWCI: 24.67
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Political Communication (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Influence and Politics
Social Sciences › Communication › Media Studies and Communication
Keywords: clickbait, social media, corporate reputation, news dissemination, social recommendation, digital literacy, fake news, news quality

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All the news That’s fit to click: the economics of clickbait media

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