Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
In an election over two policies, public mood swings whereby voters move ideologically towards a particular policy should never hurt its electoral performance. We find that this fundamental monotonicity property of preference aggregation cannot be guaranteed in the presence of a commercial media. When such a media outlet supplies news about policy-relevant uncertainty, mood swings affect demand for information. This in turn alters news quality, changing interim preferences and votes that can crowd out the ideological gain of the favored policy.