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

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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.