Main media outlets majorly report negative news about cryptocurrencies

Negative “press frenzy” escalates during a downturn

Interest in Bitcoin has soared even when the value seems to be falling

The tone and frequency of crypto-related coverage for the last five years by some major media organizations appear to have been more prejudiced against cryptocurrencies. The overall sentiment has also continued to be negative over time.

Mainstream Media Reporting Shows Anti-Cryptocurrency Prejudice

According to blockchain-focused research firm Clovr the interrogated over 7,527 crypto-related articles covered by 48 media outlets between January 1, 2013, and July 31, 2018, mainstream media outlets did not pay attention to digital currencies unless the price value was climbing but were quick with coverage every time there was a report of a price crash.

The research firm used an algorithm to gauge the “broad sentiment expressed in each article.” The findings uncovered that even during the 2017 bull run, media coverage only flourished during price decline with negative “press frenzy” escalating during the downturn at the end of 2017. The report reads:

“The minimal degree of coverage prior to 2017 is quite striking. Aside from occasional flurries of press attention,[…] even as its historic run began to gain momentum, coverage spikes sometimes coincided with sudden downturns in value, such as when Chinese regulators moved to ban exchanges in September 2017.”

The report suggests that the negative coverage heightened during the final days of 2017 as Bitcoin’s market cap plunged and towards January 2018 when cryptocurrencies slid down some 34 percent with tales of “vanished wealth” filling their pages.

While time may have increased the coverage of cryptocurrencies, this hasn’t necessarily been on the positive front. Coverage that hailed Bitcoin’s infancy quickly shifted towards neutrality and by 2016 there were more negative articles than positive ones. 2017 saw a huge number of negative articles with sentiments of cryptocurrency prognostics like Mark Cuban and Warren Buffet with their “Bitcoin bubble” narrative getting more coverage.

Long-established media outlets have been particularly severe with their cryptocurrency-related reporting with The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist and The Financial Times leading. The report found that business and financial outlets with a relatively high younger audience like Forbes and Business Insider has a more positive sentiment in their coverage.

The cryptocurrency market has had the bloodiest month in the recent past losing over 70 percent of its value since September 2017. However, Google search trends have soared during the same period reaching the same level as April 2018 when the value soared from $7,000 to $10,000. The cryptocurrency market has recovered steadily in the last few days when institutional investors appear to be getting into the cryptocurrency fray.