IMAGES OF PROTEST - DIMENSIONS OF SELECTION BIAS IN MEDIA COVERAGE OFWASHINGTON DEMONSTRATIONS, 1982 AND 1991

Protest is now central to politics in Western democracies, but it is k nown to citizens mainly through portrayals in the media. Yet the media cover only a small fraction of public protests, raising the possibili ty of selection bias. We study this problem by comparing police record s of demonstrations in Washington, D.C. in 1982 and 1991 with media co verage of the events in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and o n three national television networks. We model the consequences of dem onstration form, context, and purpose on the likelihood of media cover age. The estimated size of a demonstration and its importance to the c urrent media issue attention cycle are the strongest predictors of its coverage. Additional analyses support our claim that heightened media attention to an issue increases the likelihood that protests related to that issue will be covered. Comparing 1982 to 1991 suggests that te levision coverage of protests is increasingly subject to the impact of media issue attention cycles.