Advertising and media capture: The case of climate change

This paper analyzes whether media capture by advertisers is a potential source of the divergence between the scientific consensus and public discourse about climate change. I develop an objective measure of the tone of climate change coverage by creating an index that builds on Gentzkow and Shapiro (2010), using phrase frequency analysis to compare newspaper text with the UN's IPCC reports and the Heartland Institute's skeptical response, each of which are lengthy official reports with clear stances on climate change. I also develop a measure of potential advertising from the auto industry, using national shocks to advertising at the manufacturer level weighted by previous advertising at the newspaper level. The empirical analysis shows that this potential advertising allows firms to capture newspapers: within-newspaper, the potential for advertising from car manufacturers shifts the tone of coverage towards skepticism. I also find suggestive evidence that potential advertising reduces the overall quantity of coverage of climate change. •The paper evaluates the effect of potential advertising from the auto industry on newspaper coverage of climate change.•I create a measure of the tone of coverage based on Gentzkow and Shapiro (2010).•I create a measure of potential advertising based on Bartik (1991) and Card (2001).•When newspapers expect more advertising from car manufacturers they shift their coverage towards a more skeptical tone.