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Cited by 175Misinformation and Its ImpactsMedia Influence and PoliticsNews Media Framing and Political Communication

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 64 of the 65 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

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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Crossref · 10.1080/10584609.2019.1687626

Cites

64 of 64 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Citations

Cites

Show all 65 references

Research works printed but not linked: 7

  1. DiMaggio P., 2001, Princeton: Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, 4, 4
  2. Messing S., 2012, Communication Research
  3. 10.1515/9781400865871 · DOI · Paper page
  4. Nicas J., 2016, Wall Street Journal
  5. Nielsen J., 2016, The distribution of users’ computer skills: Worse than you think
  6. Smith A., 2018, Social media use in 2018
  7. Wallenstein A., 2013, Variety

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Metadata

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 › News Media Framing and Political Communication
Keywords
clickbait, social media, corporate reputation, news dissemination, social recommendation, digital literacy, fake news, news quality

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