A strategic mediator who is biased into the same direction as the expert can improve information transmission

Abstract

This note reconsiders communication between an informed expert and an uninformed decision maker with a strategic mediator in a dis- crete Crawford and Sobel (1982) setting. We show that a strategic mediator may improve communication even when he is biased into the same direction as the expert. The mediator improves communica- tion, however, only if some information transmission is possible with unmediated communication.Communication, Information, Cheap talk, Mediation