In the second quarter of 2025, Bitcoin elicited a very different response from its top names in financial news. Data collected by market intelligence companies’ perceptions from 18 major outlets showed that 1,116 Bitcoin articles were published between April and June.
The overall sentiment was brought a little negative. 31% of headlines tested positive, 41% met as neutral, and 28% fell into negative territory.
Elite media coverage gap
The Wall Street Journal ran two Bitcoin stories in the second quarter. The Financial Times managed 11, and the New York Times ran another 11.
This is a very small share compared to other reports these papers produce. It’s particularly strange for assets that have outperformed almost everything else in the last decade.
Based on research conducted by perception, these outlets treated Bitcoin as if they were off the radar. In comparison, we saw a wealth of compensation for ECB bond yields and quarterly revenues from large retailers over the same week.
A large number of outlets intervene
On the other end of the theater was a high-output financial title. Forbes led the pack in 194 articles, tagging 43% as positive and 24% as negative.
CNBC revealed 141 pieces, a positive rate of 42% and a negative of just 17%. Fortune added 117 stories, splitting 25% positive against 18% negative.
These publishers barely ignored Bitcoin. They treated it as a moving market, not a topic of fringe. They also excavated at certain angles. For example, it has tested 75% positive for retail adoption at Forbes, and 100% positive for facility movements.
US media coverage of Bitcoin shows wide divide in Q2 2025. Image: Meta.
Warnings from negative coverage
Other outlets tilted the opposite way. The independents ran 45 Bitcoin articles, 42% of them were marked negative, while 18% tested positive.
Fox News has produced 32 reports with 38% negative headlines, often focusing on crime and safety. Barron’s is part of the same group as Journal, outputting 65 Bitcoin stories, roughly split into 25% positive tones and 27% negative tones.
These important takeaways still hold Bitcoin on the page, but were primarily painted as a risk zone.
Real-time tracking helps investors
Investors who rely solely on elite papers can miss out on big moves. When Barron’s is 65 stories tall, and two parent papers run, there is a clear gap in what each viewer sees.
It appears that they are waiting for 3 months for a quarterly report, and by tracking headlines and emotions, traders can find shifts faster.
According to analysts, you can set up a simple dashboard that taps multiple outlets to highlight when a bullish run is being built or when warning signs are rising.
What it means to readers
This split coverage is important. If you’re only reading journals and FT, you might think that Bitcoin is a niche topic. If you follow Forbes or CNBC, we consider it to be our main market force.
Based on these numbers, the big point is simple. Expand news sources. That way you’re less likely to be blind to Bitcoin’s next big move.
As the wise man says: More cheerful.
Meta featured images, TradingView chart
