Assessing stability in the patterns of selection bias in newspaper coverage of protest during the transition from communism in Belarus

John D. McCarthy, Larissa Titarenko, Clark McPhail, Patrick S. Rafail, Boguslaw Augustyn

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

54 Scopus citations

Abstract

Analyses of selection bias in the coverage of protest events in Minsk, Belarus between 1990 and 1995 are presented. The rapid changes characterizing Minsk during its transition from Communism made it an ideal location for investigating the stability of the patterns of selection bias. Police records of 817 protest events were used to create a protest event dataset, and Minsk's four daily newspapers were read for the entire period in order to establish estimates of event coverage. Results show that large events, events with strong sponsors and, in two of the four newspapers, events accompanied by arrests are each more likely to receive coverage. These effects remain stable through phases of the transition for the combined coverage in any of the papers. The selection factors of event size and event sponsorship also display stability across media source, although the impact of arrests is not always consequential.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)127-146
Number of pages20
JournalMobilization
Volume13
Issue number2
StatePublished - Jun 2008

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Sociology and Political Science

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