unregulat ed externality. The collective choice is whether to regulate the ext ernality, where the form of regulation is a product st andard. The private decisions of cit izen consumers may be thought of as whet her to purchase a low fuel economy vehicle, and the public decision may be thought of as whet her to impose a CaFe st andard Cit izen consumers have incomplet e informat ion about the seriousness of t he externality, nedia pr des a soft report on the seriousness based on information fr it s sources and its own invest igat ive journalism. Citizen consumers are rational and take int o account the possible bias in the report from eit her the news media or its sources. The ources are an activ ist, whose int erest s are in dampening the demand for the product and regulat ing the externality, and firms that produce the product and oppose regulation The act ivist and the firms are better informed t han is the media, and they act strate gically to influence the medias news report. Their influence takes the form of advocacy, where they communicate favorable(hard) informat ion to the media and may conceal un- favorable information. The media may investigate the seriousness of the ext ernality if it does not receive hard informat ion from the act ivist or the firms. Invest i both informs the media and provides an opport unity to expose possible concealment by its sources. If concealment is exposed, the activist or the firms suffer reput at ion damag The firms are assumed to compete in the market but to act collect ively as an industry in dealing wit h the activist, the media, and the public. Citizen consumers are sophisticat and ant icipat ethe st rat egies of the activist, firms, and media. They subscribe tothe media's service only if they expect to benefit from it, and those who do not subscribe benefit from an informational spillover The preferences of the activist are to mitigate the ext ernality, and the firms maximize their profit s. The objectives of the news media are a combination of profit s, journalist ic responsibilities, and jourmalist ic performance. The responsibilities pert ain to its role in society to serve the public by providing informat ion to cit izen consumers to improve thei private and collect formance pert ains to exposing concealment by urces. which enhance the media's reput at io The model focuses on t he case in which the media can influence the collect ive decision Collective action by firms in public s is allowed under the Noerr Penning or doct rine based on the right to free speechunregulated externality. The collective choice is whether to regulate the externality, where the form of regulation is a product standard. The private decisions of citizen consumers may be thought of as whether to purchase a low fuel economy vehicle, and the public decision may be thought of as whether to impose a CAFE standard. Citizen consumers have incomplete information about the seriousness of the externality, and the news media provides a soft report on the seriousness based on information from its sources and its own investigative journalism. Citizen consumers are rational and take into account the possible bias in the report from either the news media or its sources. The sources are an activist, whose interests are in dampening the demand for the product and regulating the externality, and firms that produce the product and oppose regulation. The activist and the firms are better informed than is the media, and they act strate￾gically to influence the media’s news report. Their influence takes the form of advocacy, where they communicate favorable (hard) information to the media and may conceal un￾favorable information. The media may investigate the seriousness of the externality if it does not receive hard information from the activist or the firms. Investigative journalism both informs the media and provides an opportunity to expose possible concealment by its sources. If concealment is exposed, the activist or the firms suffer reputation damage. The firms are assumed to compete in the market but to act collectively as an industry in dealing with the activist, the media, and the public.5 Citizen consumers are sophisticated and anticipate the strategies of the activist, firms, and media. They subscribe to the media’s service only if they expect to benefit from it, and those who do not subscribe benefit from an informational spillover. The preferences of the activist are to mitigate the externality, and the firms maximize their profits. The objectives of the news media are a combination of profits, journalistic responsibilities, and journalistic performance. The responsibilities pertain to its role in society to serve the public by providing information to citizen consumers to improve their private and collective choices. Journalistic performance pertains to exposing concealment by sources, which can enhance the media’s reputation. The model focuses on the case in which the media can influence the collective decision. 5 Collective action by firms in public politics is allowed under the Noerr Pennington doctrine based on the right to free speech. 7