The Content and Timing of Media Coverage of Message Events: Cycles and Comparisions

消息事件媒体报道的内容和时机：周期和比较

• 批准号: 9819884
• 负责人: Pamela Oliver
• 金额: $ 12.35万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-04-01 至 2002-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9819884&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Content; Timing; Media; Coverage; Message

In a democratic state, citizens may express concerns about public issues through staging social protest events, and communicate their message to a broader public by attracting media attention for their events. But the media do not cover all such events, and the content of the media coverage may be favorable or unfavorable to the message that those staging the event are attempting to convey. Because the media are so important in the process of communicating with the public, and because most research on public events necessarily relies on newspaper archives, it is important to understand the factors that determine whether an event is covered in the mass media and, if covered, what the nature of the coverage is. The present project analyzes data from four years (1993-1996) in Madison, Wisconsin to determine the interplay between claims-making events and the content and timing of media coverage. Data include records of claim-making events from five sets of police archives, and text files of local newspaper stories. Stories are coded for the prominence and content of their coverage of public events. These are supplemented by searches of electronic newspaper archives for other coverage of the issues and organizations involved in the events. Statistical analyses demonstrate different patterns for the timing and content of event coverage depending on the form and sponsor of the event, and show the interplay between events and news coverage in the unfolding of protest campaigns. Comparisons with similar data collected in a small German city provide an initial basis for assessing the extent to which these results transcend differing political contexts.

在民主国家，公民可以通过颁发社会抗议活动来表达对公共问题的担忧，并通过吸引媒体的注意事件来向更广泛的公众传达信息。但是，媒体并没有涵盖所有此类事件，并且媒体报道的内容可能对那些正在尝试传达的人的信息有利或不利。由于媒体在与公众进行沟通的过程中非常重要，而且大多数公共事件的研究必然依赖报纸档案，因此了解确定大众媒体中是否涵盖事件的因素以及覆盖范围的性质是什么。本项目分析了威斯康星州麦迪逊市的四年（1993-1996）的数据，以确定索赔事件与媒体报道的内容和时间之间的相互作用。数据包括五组警察档案中的索赔事件记录以及当地报纸故事的文本文件。故事的覆盖范围的突出性和内容是编码的。通过搜索电子报纸档案，以补充这些事件的问题和组织的其他报道。统计分析根据活动的形式和赞助商表明了事件报道的时间和内容的不同模式，并在展开抗议活动的活动中显示了事件和新闻报道之间的相互作用。与在德国小城市中收集的类似数据的比较为评估这些结果超越不同政治环境的程度提供了初始基础。