$BTC

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According to the analysis company Perception, in the second quarter of this year, 18 major media outlets published a total of 1,116 articles about Bitcoin, of which 31% were positive, 41% neutral, and 28% negative.

However, data indicates a significant discrepancy between specialized financial media channels and traditional newspapers that rarely mention Bitcoin.

Limited news coverage

Perception recorded only 2 articles about Bitcoin in The Wall Street Journal, 11 articles in the Financial Times, and 11 articles in The New York Times — lower than every financial news site in the survey, even trailing some mid-tier mainstream newspapers.

This leads to a situation where readers rely on traditional sources that do not adequately cover information about an asset that has outperformed many market indices in the past quarter. The report refers to this as a 'editorial blind spot risk,' where institutional investors may make decisions based on incomplete information.

Major financial news channels report high volumes of articles with a more positive perspective. Forbes leads with 194 articles about Bitcoin and a positive-to-negative article ratio of 1.8:1. CNBC published 141 articles, with a ratio of 2.5:1, while Fortune had 117 articles, mostly leaning towards the positive.

Articles focus on topics such as: Bitcoin adoption levels, spot ETFs, corporate Bitcoin holding strategies, and mining activities — positioning Bitcoin as a serious macro asset rather than a speculative tool.

Skeptical newspapers maintain negative biases

In contrast, The Independent published 45 articles with an overwhelming negative ratio of 2.3:1. Fox News and Barron’s also expressed skepticism through articles mainly revolving around cybercrime, security vulnerabilities, and price volatility.

Perception classifies media outlets into 3 groups:

  • Optimistic technology group (Forbes, CNBC)

  • Group intentionally limiting coverage (WSJ, FT, NYT)

  • Conservative and skeptical group (Fox News, The Independent…)

Asymmetric information risk

The report emphasizes that the disparity in reporting is noteworthy, as large-cap digital assets currently have liquidity comparable to many G-10 currencies. Additionally, spot ETFs also set a record for trading volume in the quarter.

Therefore, financial organizations that only follow less updated media channels risk missing important developments related to regulation, cash flow, and corporate treasury strategies.

The report concludes: this disparity is both a risk and an opportunity — a risk for those relying on limited information sources, but an opportunity for readers closely following news channels that reflect the market developments comprehensively.

By being able to measure the number of articles and media sentiment quarterly, portfolio management groups can track the correlation between news and price volatility to adjust their information acquisition strategies accordingly.