The gravity of foreign news coverage in the EU: does the euro matter?

Fracasso, Andrea and Grassano, Nicola and Vittucci Marzetti, Giuseppe (2014): The gravity of foreign news coverage in the EU: does the euro matter?

Abstract

This work investigates the systemic factors behind cross-country variability in the transnational media coverage of foreign news in the EU in 2010. Using a large dataset on the transnational coverage of news by 148 EU national media, the paper maps the network of EU transnational citations and performs a quantitative assessment of their systemic determinants via the estimation of a gravity model of news. Nine empirical hypotheses are tested. Size and economic development of the target (source) country are positively (negatively) associated with the probability of coverage. Historical, linguistic and economic ties increase this probability. The evidence on the effect of the countries’ participation in the currency union is weak: once the historical levels of trade integration and the effects of the sovereign debt crisis are accounted for, there is no robust evidence of a higher integration of the media spheres within the euro area.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Complex networks, European Union, Eurozone, Gravity model, Media sphere
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C2 - Single Equation Models ; Single Variables > C21 - Cross-Sectional Models ; Spatial Models ; Treatment Effect Models ; Quantile Regressions; F - International Economics > F3 - International Finance > F33 - International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions; F - International Economics > F5 - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy > F50 - General; F - International Economics > F6 - Economic Impacts of Globalization > F69 - Other; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z10 - General

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