Market intelligence firm Perception states that despite cryptocurrencies reaching historic highs, mainstream media's coverage of Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies in the second quarter was polarized and insufficient.
According to the report released by the company on Tuesday, 18 mainstream media outlets published a total of 1,116 articles in the second quarter, revealing a 'deeply polarized narrative landscape' in digital asset media coverage.
The report does not directly compare to previous quarters but indicates that overall sentiment towards Bitcoin has shown a 'dramatic divergence between media', with 31% publishing positive articles, 41% providing neutral coverage, and 28% publishing negative articles.
The report claims that news coverage from 'elite financial publications' is extremely scarce, with The Wall Street Journal (under News Corp) publishing only 2 articles about Bitcoin in the second quarter, while The Financial Times and The New York Times published 11 articles about Bitcoin during the same period.
These three media outlets accounted for only 2% of all mainstream media coverage of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in the second quarter.
Mainstream media has three narratives regarding Bitcoin.
Perception states it identified three distinct narratives in major media coverage of Bitcoin, largely depending on the extent of their claimed 'editorial blind spots of agenda-setting media'.
These three narratives are: 'enthusiastic adoption' by media such as Forbes and CNBC, 'deliberate ignorance' by media like The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times, and 'persistent skepticism' from traditional media.
Perception indicates that high-output financial media such as Forbes, CNBC, and Barron's (under News Corp) filled the gap left by top financial publications with extensive coverage, while traditional news media focused on crime and controversy.
There are differences in the distribution of cryptocurrency themes among news media.
The study also found significant differences in topics related to the cryptocurrency industry.
Forbes focuses on key themes such as retail adoption, Bitcoin mining, and institutional adoption, while CNBC emphasizes banking and finance, market analysis, and investment tools.
Meanwhile, Fortune magazine extensively covered mining, banking, finance, and market analysis, while Fox News emphasized themes of crime, law, and cybersecurity.
Information asymmetry leads to readers having 'insufficient information'.
The report concludes that this disparity has resulted in significant 'information asymmetry'.
The report claims that investors relying on elite financial media for market intelligence face 'systemic information inadequacy' regarding emerging transformative asset classes.
