Echo Chambers, Lions' Dens, and Networks : Matching in Political Information Markets

I consider the role of the media in transmitting information about competing candidates or policies to voters. Information suppliers in the media ("pundits") may be matched to voters of their own preference-type "echo chambers"), voters of the opposite preference-type ("lions' dens"), or multiple types of voters ("networks"). I show that: a.) pundits in lion's dens and minority-type pundits on networks convey no useful information, and where they exist, they must serve primarily as entertainers, as foils for other pundits, or for some other non-informational purpose; b.) language used by pundits in echo chambers will typically be characterized by high degrees of inflammatory humor, rhetoric, and demagoguery relative to networks; c.) when a variety of media exist, media consumption by voters will tend to be separated across preference-types; and d.) echo chamber pundits are vital to the informational structure of the market, and a decrease in minority-type echo chambers may diminish the truthfulness of all pundits