Abstract
The online media has not only captured news at the national level but also delivered news on specific regions, either the province(s) or local governments. A focus on delivering more local economic news, may also align to the trend of decentralization policies, triggered especially after the post-1998 period and the adoption of sub-national elections (Morrell, 2005). Previous studies mostly explored how economic news may affect election outcomes (Holbrook, 2004), but not on the effect related to economic outcomes. We use news data from four large online media, as follows: Kompas, Okezone, Republika, Sindonews, and Tribunnews, over the year from 2010 up to 2015. The data of economic news category, as it focused on news at the province and local level, are speci?c news classi?ed in 13 categories. Based on ?xed-effect panel regression, our preliminary ?nding indicates how economic news may positively affect economic outcomes – referring to per capita GRDP (Gross Regional Domestic Product). By category of economic news, news on investments and on tourism tat have positive effect on provincial per capita GRDP. Meanwhile, on the effect of political events, we only found a significant effect of provincial election in the case of election year 2012. For these provinces with election year in 2012, more economic news instead was associated with lower province per capita GRDP.
