Fair & Balanced or Fit to Print? The Effects of Media Sources on Statistical Inferences

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of source bias on statistical inferences drawn from event data analyses. Most event data projects use a single source to code events. For example most of the early Kansas Event Data System (KEDS) datasets code only Reuters and Agence France Presse (AFP) reports. One of the goals of Project Civil Strife (PCS) –a new internal conflict-cooperation event data project– is to code event data from several news sources to garner the most extensive coverage of events and control for bias often found in a single source. Herein, we examine the effects that source bias has on the inferences we draw from statistical time-series models. In this study, we examine domestic political conflict in Indonesia and Cambodia from 1980-2004 using automated content analyzed datasets collected from multiple sources (i.e. Associated Press, British Broadcasting Corporation, Japan Economic Newswire, United Press International, and Xinhua). The analyses show that we draw different inferences across sources, especially when we disaggregate domestic political groups. We then combine our sources together and eliminate duplicate events to create a multi-source dataset and compare the results to the single-source models. We conclude that there are important differences in the inferences drawn dependent upon source use. Therefore, researchers should (1) check their results across multiple sources and/or (2) analyze multi-source data to test hypotheses when possible.