Connected financial journalists—those with working relationships, common school ties, or social media connections to company management—introduce a marked media slant into their news coverage. Using a comprehensive set of newspaper articles covering mergers and acquisition (M&A) transactions from 1997 to 2016, I find that connected journalists use significantly fewer negative words in their coverage of connected acquirers. These journalists are also more likely to quote connected executives and include less accurate language in their reporting. Moreover, they tend to portray other firms in the same network in a less negative light. Journalists’ favoritism bias has implications for both capital market outcomes and their careers. I find that acquirers whose M&As are covered by connected journalists receive significantly higher stock returns on the news article publication date. However, these acquirers’ stock prices reverse in the long term, suggesting market overreaction to news covered by connected journalists. Around M&A transactions, connected articles are correlated with increased bid competition and deal premiums. In terms of future career development, connected journalists are more likely to leave journalism and join their associated industries in the long run. Taken together, the evidence suggests that financial journalists’ personal networks promote news bias that potentially hinders the efficient dissemination of information.

中文翻译：

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财经记者社交网络中的新闻偏见


互联财经记者——那些与公司管理层有工作关系、共同学校关系或社交媒体联系的人——在他们的新闻报道中引入了明显的媒体倾向。通过使用涵盖 1997 年至 2016 年并购 (M&A) 交易的全面报纸文章，我发现关联记者在报道关联收购方时使用的负面词汇明显减少。这些记者也更有可能引用相关高管的话，并在报道中使用不太准确的语言。此外，他们倾向于以不那么负面的方式描述同一网络中的其他公司。记者的偏袒偏见对资本市场的结果和他们的职业都有影响。我发现，由相关记者报道的收购方在新闻文章发表之日获得的股票回报明显更高。然而，从长远来看，这些收购方的股价会发生逆转，这表明市场对相关记者报道的新闻反应过度。在并购交易中，关联文章与投标竞争和交易溢价的加剧相关。就未来的职业发展而言，从长远来看，有联系的记者更有可能离开新闻业并加入其相关行业。总而言之，证据表明财经记者的个人网络助长了新闻偏见，可能阻碍信息的有效传播。