Media, Economics and Geopolitics

Introduction

Research in political economy has documented a vast number of different “media effects” suggesting that the media can have a profound impact on a range of economically and politically relevant outcomes. Yet, the existing empirical work is significantly skewed towards a few countries, raising concerns about the generalizability and broader cross-context relevance of the empirical findings.

Limitations of Current Research

Given the predominant focus on individual countries and their politics, this implies limited attention is devoted to the frictions between national media, national politics, and transnational policy-making in the myriad of areas that require collective and coordinated global action.

Research Questions

To what extent does the primarily national media have concrete effects undermining global policy-making across a broad range of areas—or on the specific issue of climate change? This is an important empirical question that requires both suitable data and suitable research designs.

Objectives of MEGEO

MEGEO will deliver on both dimensions and, in the process, catalyze research across multiple disciplines. The overarching objectives of MEGEO are:

1. To develop and make available a comprehensive and consistent novel data resource measuring what national media reports on and how and to what extent other countries are represented in each other's media.
2. To characterize the extent to which national media may affect policy-making in domains with clear transnational relevance that has previously been mostly ignored.
3. To quantify the extent to which skewed reporting on foreign countries may have tangible economic and political impacts.

Work Packages

The work is organized across three work packages that will:

• Provide a systematic "Topology of Media Focus" across countries.
• Answer the question of "What, where, and why does news spread to?"
• Study "(How) Does National Media Shape Transnational Politics?"
• Explore "(How) Does National Media Affect Cross Border Economic Activity?" using a range of novel applications and leveraging proprietary secondary data.