MEDIA FRENZIES &THE “TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS”

Rational Choice eoryin Communication Research

Lugano, May 7, 2009Marco Bardus

USI- Institute of Communication and Health

Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

Table of contents Intro: In the Era of Media Frenzies

Rational Choice Applied to Media e Social Costs of Media Frenzies

Discovering the Issue-Attention Cycle

e Tragedy of the Commons

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Towards Rational Choice in Health Communication…

Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research 3Images of the H1N1 Influenza Virus. h7p://www.flickr.com/photos/ajc1/3493605447/

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Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

Media frenzy occurs…

“…when a critical mass of journalists leap to cover the same embarassing or scandalous subject and pursue it intensely, often excessively, and sometimes uncontrollably”

(Sutter, 2001)

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Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

Swine flu trends

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Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

Media flu trends

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Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

Social media flu trends

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Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

Good ol’media frenziness

Bird flu, pitbull attacks, locust alarms (Fengler & Russ-Mohl, 2005), the strange case of Mr. Kohl and the anonymous donations (Kepplinger, 2001), heartquakes, mad-cows… and environmental issues (Downs, 1972), over and over again.

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Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

What’s the problem?

Prerequisites: uncertainty, news competition& information overload, time, lack of property rights (Sutter, 2001)

Consequences: lack or scarcity of control (verification) => low reporting standards => low quality journalism?

(Fengler&Russ-Mohl, 2005; 2008; Sutter, 2001)

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Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

The “Issue-Attention Cycle”

Pre-problem stage

Alarmed discovery

+

Realization of the

Gradual delcine of

intense

Post-problem

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(Downs, 1972)

Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

IAC=f (issues)

Issues characteristics• e majority does not suffer from the problem as

much as some numerical minority.• Sufferings are generated by social arrangements

that provide significant benefits to a majority or a powerful minority of population (Pareto’s law).

• e problem has no intrinsically exciting qualities.

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IAC in practice

• Most people are not reminded of the problem (because they do not suffer from it).

• Solving the problem requires social changes and great effort in behavior change. Significant attempts threaten important groups in society.

• Media attention soon starts to be boring for the majority of the public.

• Media realize that the attention is threatening someone and boring the others, hence they reduce coverage.

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Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

DRAMATIC, EXCITING, LARGE ENOUGH TO COMPETE WITH COMPETING ENTERTAINING NEWS!

So the issue or the problem must be…

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“ARE JOURNALISTS LOCUSTS, TOO?”*

*(Fengler&Russ-Mohl, 2005)

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Rational Choice Media

News organizations pursue profit maximization=break-even point

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The social costs of media frenzies

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Rcrit Ropt Rfrenzy

Mar

gin

al b

enef

its/

cost

s

Number of reporters covering story

MPC MBMSC MEC

MaximizaIon of benefit

Turning point

MPC= Marginal Private Costs; MEC=Marginal External Costs; MB=Marginal benefits; MSC=Marginal social cost (MPC+MEC)

(source: Sutter, 2001)

Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

MPC => Media circus

News organizations consider only MPC, doing only private interests, hence they send more reporters => Rfrenzy > Ropt

Reducing costs triggers excessive coverage and

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Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

The “Tragedy of the Commons”

“e elite’s enviromental deteriorationis often the common man’s improved standard of living.”

(Dawns, 1972)

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A World’s dilemma

Is it possible to achieve“the greatest good for the greatest number”? (Bentham revised)

Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

A Tragedy exemplifiedE.g. Pollution as a problem of the tragedy of the commons

According to Malthus, population grows geometrically. Hence, commons are justifiable only under conditions of low-population density.

How to solve it?a) Allocation of goods.b) Freedom to breed (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)c) Appeal to conscience and responsibility

e solution? = mutual coercion(Hardin, 1968)

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“Injustice is preferable to total ruin”(Hardin, 1968)

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Are there any other solutions?

Collaboration (no, it works only in small “fraternities”)Censorship vs. Open Access (=> false dilemma: tragedy

of the commons)Tradable permits (anonimity) => Depend on the choice

of a regulator

New problems: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

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ANY OTHER IDEAS?Time to discuss…

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Thank you for the attention!

Marco BardusInstitute of Communication and Health

Università della Svizzera italianavia Buffi, 13 – 6900 Lugano

Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

References Downs, A. (1972). Up and down with ecology. e “issue-attention cycle”. Public Interest, 28(38).

Fengler, S., & Ruß-Mohl, S. (2005). Influenza aviaria, allarme cavallette e pitbulls come spettacoli mediali. Corriere Del Ticino, December 3, 2005.

Fengler, S., & Ruß-Mohl, S. (2005). Media frenzies over bird flu and locust alam. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, December 3, 2005.

Fengler, S., & Ruß-Mohl, S. (2008). Journalists and the information-attention markets: Towards an economic theory of journalism. Journalism, 9(6), 667-690.

Hardin, G. (1968). e tragedy of the commons. Science, 162, 1243-1248.

Kepplinger, H. M. (2001). Handle the scandal. Studies in Communication Sciences, 1, 117-136.

Sutter, D. (2001). e social cost of media frenzies. International Journal of Social Economics, 28(9), 742-751.

Documents

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Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

References FluTracker. http://flutracker.rhizalabs.comGoogle. http://www.google.com

Google Blog Search. http://blogsearch.google.comGoogle News. http://news.google.comGoogle Trends. http://google.com/trendsSocial mention. http://socialmention.comTechnorati Blog Search. http://www.technorati.com

XCD. A Webcomic of Romance, Sarcasm, Math and Language. http://xkcd.com/574/

WHO- Influenza H1N1. http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html

Web sources

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Lugano, 7-05-2009 Rational Choice eory in Communication Research

References '56 Dodge Lancer. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kahluacream/2114887238/

Do note [Closed] http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulwatson/5070827/

Images of the H1N1 Influenza Virus. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajc1/3493605447/

World Population Growth. http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurenmanning/2979574719/

Pictures

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