JustTheData

The primary goal of this project is to introduce current data to the conversation about Canadian political rhetoric and media's coverage of that rhetoric.  This is done through a transparent process that includes publicly available methodology and data files, in addition to spin-free presentation of data.  This goal requires gaining an understanding of the language and messaging used by Canadian political parties as well as the issues important to each party and how media covers those issues, primarily through Twitter but eventually through other mediums as well.  The outcome will be data on political issues and messaging as well as a media index scoring.  Media index scoring will be used to measure the impact of media’s coverage on the voting intentions of Canadians.  

 

All data will be presented with a basic interpretation but free from personal opinion. 

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This project does not rely on surveys.  Instead, data is derived from a variety of sources including Hansard, Twitter and Facebook. Unlike studies by American academics in the early 2000’s, who often required an equal balance of Democratic and Republican research assistants to ensure the neutrality of their studies, this project removes the potential for bias by relying heavily on text mining packages to identify important issues and key phrases used by political parties. Once these issues and phrases have been identified, simple coding can be used to determine the overlap in political news coverage.  Finally, several packages to measure tone are used, including a machine learning tool developed for online use.  The measure of tone does not require any human intervention beyond the coding required to develop and make use of the tone analysis package.  Methodology for deriving data can be found in the methodology section.

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Why does this matter?

The question of whether or not media is biased is not new (Barber, 2008; McNeney, 2015) and yet, the debate rages on.  

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During the 2015 federal election, belief of unfair or biased coverage reached fever pitch.  Media outlets that endorsed any political party, from the Globe and Mail and National Post to La Presse, brought upon themselves ridicule and accusations of bias. Several times during the election, former National Post editor Andrew Coyne scorned CBC News’ coverage of the Conservative Party of Canada (Coyne, Sept. 21, 25 & 30, 2015). After the election, Nora Loreto and Michael Stewart, writing for The Walrus, accused all mainstream media of a right-wing bias during that same federal election (2017).  Most recently, Sean Craig, a writer with the non-mainstream news site Canadaland wrote an inside account of the National Post’s coordinated and strategic shift to the right, particularly after their coverage of the 2015 election was criticized by senior staff as “anti-conservative” .

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In a poll conducted in 2017, Abacus data found that more than half of those surveyed (58%) believe that Canadian media is biased towards one political party, with millennials (64%) and Conservatives (69%) serving as key drivers of this belief (Anderson and Coletto, 2017).

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One reason for the persistence of this debate could be due to a shifting media landscape.  Since 2011, social media platforms have become an increasingly important source for news consumption:  in addition to broadcast, print and online, Canadians, especially young Canadians, are increasingly consuming news through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter (Grudz and Dubois, 2018; Abacus Data, 2017). 

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Consumption of news through each of these platforms may differ from traditional news consumption in several ways. First, they enable a quick headline reading that followers are able to view as news is posted or as the user scrolls through their feed. More interested users of each platform may click on a headline link which directs readers back to the news outlet’s website for conventional online news reading. However, research suggests that, on social media links are not being clicked very often and articles are not being read in their entirety (Maksym et al, 2016). This could mean that, information contained in a Tweet informs a less comprehensive view than would reading an entire article in a newspaper or viewing an entire or even partial broadcast on television.

 

In addition, news that is shared in a network may often be subject to editorializing by the person sharing.  Then, if the reader is influenced by their network, they are not only consuming a less comprehensive story but one influenced by the sharer’s views as well.

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Finally, while some digital editors such as those with the Globe and Mail, have confirmed that, as a general rule, political news content that is printed or posted to their website is automatically or manually posted to their Twitter and Facebook feeds (Stasiuk, 2018); others, such as CBC News, the most widely viewed online news source (Reuters, 2017), have indicated that, content that is posted to social media does not exactly parallel that which is posted on their website or broadcast news (CBC News, 2018). This suggests that, while there may be some overlap between conventional and non-conventional media coverage, those reading news through Twitter may receive a different story from those who read through traditional media coverage.

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Regardless of the issues driving this debate, the importance of understanding media coverage and how it impacts Canadians may boil down to the types of people who are consuming the news.  

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Academic research on media consumption suggests that there are ultimately two types of people who consume news: 

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1. Those who consume news simply to confirm their belief about the world.  These types will consume whichever biased news achieves that end. 

2. Those who are more conscientious who consume news to seek out the truth. These types will read articles biased in every direction and find truth somewhere at the centre.  <<CITE>>

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Because the reader who reads news to confirm their views will intuitively know their views and hence, know which news aligns to those views, identifying media bias is redundant since, they’ve probable already done so.

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However, for the conscientious reader, understanding where media falls in terms of bias will allow for a more comprehensive understanding of an issue.  Then, for the conscientious reader, understanding media coverage matters.

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For political parties and voters, understanding media coverage may also be of interest.  Although politicians are now able to gain direct access to a large audience through a variety of different platforms, fair and accurate media coverage still plays a role in allowing parties to reach as many Canadians as possible with their message. Canadian voters who fall into the "conscientious reader" category may also be interested in understanding where biases lay in order to fully form their opinions on political parties.

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Further, if news influences outcomes like voting intentions and elections, then identifying bias in media matters for at least two reasons.  This first, is so that readers are aware of the bias present and how it might be influencing their intentions to vote.  The second comes in light of new media funding provided by the Canadian government for media outlets.  Identifying media bias may provide some oversight for ensuring funding is provided in a way that won't unfairly influence outcomes.