New research from blockchain startup Clovr titled “Mainstream Media’s Sentiment Towards Cryptocurrency” is the cumulation of review into how different media outlets covered cryptocurrencies as the market ebbed and flowed.
From January 1, 2013 to July 31, 2018, the Clovr team reviewed a total of 7,527 crypto-focused articles from 48 national and international media outlets.
Unsurprisingly, a rush of coverage reached its peak in the latter months of 2017 as cryptocurrency prices skyrocketed across the board.
Clovr notes how “aside from occasional flurries of press attention…[bitcoin] attracted relatively little notice before its meteoric rise.” However, the research says coverage was often highly variant across news websites that do cover cryptocurrency.
No Love From Conservatives?
According to the research, sites like Forbes and Business Insider, who to Clovr, “skew toward a younger audience,” had coverage that consistently reflected a more positive sentiment towards cryptocurrency.
Websites like Breitbart, The Daily Caller, and Fox News, of which Clovr cites as “skew conservative,” had an 88.7% “negative sentiment proportion” towards cryptocurrency in their reporting.
Clovr notes their review of Breitbart was “somewhat surprising” since former executive chairman Steve Bannon has spoken favorably about cryptocurrencies.
However, the startup writes how many conservative lawmakers “have actually called for tighter controls on digital currencies” as a potential suggestion for why there is a “disdain for crypto” across conservative outlets.
Changing Feelings Over Time
Clovr explains that their information points towards a gradual “warming” to crypto’s potential by some media outlets as time went on.
CNET and Forbes were identified as two key examples of this pattern, as a crop of more positive articles were published in the last year of Clovr’s research timeline.
Overall, Clovr characterized their findings as evidence that bitcoin’s coverage “has been anything but static.”
The research was keen to emphasize that readers should be discerning about understanding the ideological disposition of an outlet towards cryptocurrencies before using its information, particularly when it comes to making investment decisions.
