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News Nationalization in a Digital Age: An Examination of How Local Protests Are Covered and Curated Online

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  • Kokil Jaidka
  • Sean Fischer
  • Yphtach Lelkes
  • Yifei Wang

Abstract

News outlets are increasingly nationalizing their presentation of news stories, framing and presenting local news in a broad national context. We investigate how supply-side and curation-side factors of the news cycle contribute to the nationalization of news coverage. Through the computational analysis of 1.05 million Google news results on four days in July–August 2020, that corresponded to 1,581 news stories published on the George Floyd protests in Portland, Oregon, and Kenosha, Wisconsin, we examine the relationship between the nationalization of news coverage, stories’ search rank in Google News, and the geographic distance between the news event and the stories’ reading audience. Further, we explore the role of Google News in curating locally focused news. Our findings help to map the media ecosystem in a digital age, highlighting the influence of algorithmic power in politics and showing that excessive circulation of national news may have a profound negative impact on news diversity and social justice.

Suggested Citation

  • Kokil Jaidka & Sean Fischer & Yphtach Lelkes & Yifei Wang, 2023. "News Nationalization in a Digital Age: An Examination of How Local Protests Are Covered and Curated Online," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 189-207, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:707:y:2023:i:1:p:189-207
    DOI: 10.1177/00027162231217873
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ava Francesca Battocchio & Kjerstin Thorson & Dan Hiaeshutter-Rice & Marisa Smith & Yingying Chen & Stephanie Edgerly & Kelley Cotter & Hyesun Choung & Chuqing Dong & Moldir Moldagaliyeva & Christophe, 2023. "Who Will Tell the Stories of Health Inequities? Platform Challenges (and Opportunities) in Local Civic Information Infrastructure," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 144-171, May.
    2. Stephanie Edgerly & Yu Xu, 2023. "Local-Level Information-Seeking in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Repertoire Approach," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 172-188, May.
    3. Nikki Usher, 2023. "Delegitimizing Rural Public Health Departments: How Decaying Local News Ecologies, Misinformation, and Radicalization Undermine Community Storytelling Networks," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 707(1), pages 90-108, May.

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