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Summary
Keeping tabs on how global media cover humanitarian emergencies is a central part of AlertNet's MediaBridge project which aims to give journalists tools and services to help them improve their crisis reporting.
Which emergencies attract the most column inches? How does coverage change over time? When the media spotlight shines on one part of the world do crises elsewhere go unreported?
Aid workers are also keen to know how their organisations are faring in the struggle to drum up global press attention.
AlertNet's new media monitoring service allows users to track trends in crisis coverage and rank emergencies and aid organisations by the amount of press coverage they generate. It's not an absolute science but it's arguably the world's most reliable indicator of how the English-language press is covering disasters.
How does media monitoring work?
AlertNet has teamed up with Factiva, a Dow Jones company with a database of more than 10 000 media sources from around the planet. We've narrowed the Factiva pool down to 107 English-language print publications from Europe North and Latin America Africa the Middle East and Asia. See the full list.
Our system analyses relevant articles from these sources and decides whether they are about any of the 80 or so global emergencies AlertNet tracks at a given time. Emergencies are ranked according to the number of press mentions they get.
The system also trawls the sources for mentions of aid organisations and ranks them by the number of citations.
For precise details of how the system decides which articles are relevant in the first place and which stories are about which emergencies see our methodology in detail. For specific information on precise keywords used and any necessary tweaks to the keyword logic made over time please contact Joanne Tomkinson or call +44 207 542 2432.
Click here for the log of refinements and minor keyword changes made to Media Metrics newsfeeds since the service was launched on Sept. 21, 2006.
What media monitoring doesn't do:
Methodology in detail
Here are detailed notes on how AlertNet's media monitoring works.Step 1. We choose a pool of 107 English-language print publications whose stories are contained in the Factiva database. See appendix 1 for a complete list of sources. Here's a breakdown of the sources by region:| Africa | (22 publications) |
| Asia | (30 publications) |
| Australia & New Zealand | (8 publications) |
| Europe | (18 publications) |
| Latin America | (4 publications) |
| Middle East | (5 publications) |
| North America | (20 publications) |
Step 2. Using Factiva's own coding system we identify stories already tagged by Factiva to relevant subject types (for example health poverty or risk). At the same time we exclude irrelevant subject types (for example stories about financial markets or commercial banking). See appendix 2 for a list of included and excluded subject types.
Step 3. Stories identified as potentially relevant are then scanned word-by-word by AlertNet's own tagging system which uses keywords to match articles to global emergencies covered on the site.
Step 4. The system also searches for mentions of any of the almost 400 non-governmental aid organisations that are members of AlertNet. Organisations belonging to networks such as members of the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement are identified by their umbrella entities. So a press mention of Oxfam Great Britain would be counted simply as Oxfam.
Step 5. Each day tagged stories are counted up and the result is a league table of emergencies ranked according to the number of stories matched to each crisis. The system also produces a league table of aid organisations ranked by numbers of press citations.
Appendix 1: Sources
Africa| Accra Mail (Ghana) |
| Addis Tribune |
| Al-Ahram Weekly (Egypt) |
| Business Day (South Africa) |
| Concord Times (Freetown |
| Sierra Leone) |
| Ghanaian Chronicle |
| Mopheme / The Survivor |
| New Vision |
| Public Agenda (Ghana) |
| Standard Times (Sierra Leone) |
| The Daily Monitor (Ethiopia) |
| The Independent (The Gambia) |
| The Monitor (Uganda) |
| The Namibian |
| The News (Lagos) |
| The Post (Cameroon) |
| The Post of Zambia |
| This Day (Nigeria) |
| Times of Zambia |
| Vanguard (Nigeria) |
| Zimbabwe Independent |
| Zimbabwe Standard |
Asia
| Asahi Shimbun/Asahi Evening News (Japan) |
| Bangkok Post (Thailand) |
| China Daily |
| Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka) |
| Daily Yomiuri |
| Hindustan Times |
| Indian Express |
| Kazakhstanskaya Pravda (Kazakhstan) |
| New Straits Times (Malaysia) |
| New Sunday Times (Malaysia) |
| Philippine Daily Inquirer |
| Shanghai Daily |
| South China Morning Post |
| Straits Times |
| Taipei Times |
| Taiwan News |
| The Baluchistan Times |
| The China Post (Taiwan) |
| The Economic Times (India) |
| The Hindu (India) |
| The Jakarta Post |
| The Japan Times |
| The Korea Herald |
| The Nation (Pakistan) |
| The Nation (Thailand) |
| The Saigon Times Daily |
| The Standard |
| The Times of India |
| The Wall Street Journal Asia |
| TODAY |
Australia & New Zealand
| Daily Telegraph (Australia) |
| New Zealand Herald |
| Sunday Mail (Australia) |
| The Advertiser (Adelaide) |
| The Age (Melbourne, Australia) |
| The Australian |
| The Independent Financial Review |
| The Sydney Morning Herald |
Europe
| Daily Mail (U.K.) |
| El Pais - English Edition |
| Irish Independent |
| Mirror (U.K.) |
| The Daily Telegraph (U.K.) |
| The Economist (United Kingdom) |
| The Guardian (U.K.) |
| The Herald (Glasgow, Scotland) |
| The Independent (London) |
| The Independent on Sunday (UK) |
| The Irish Times |
| The Moscow Times |
| The Observer (U.K.) |
| The Scotsman |
| The St Petersburg Time (Russia) |
| The Sunday Telegraph (U.K.) |
| The Wall Street Journal Europe |
| Turkish Daily News |
Latin America
| Gazeta Mercantil News (Real Time) |
| Santiago Times (Chile) |
| Tendências Daily |
| Tendências Weekly |
Middle East
| Daily Star (Lebanon) |
| Gulf News |
| Ha'aretz |
| Middle East Economic Digest |
| The Jerusalem Post |
North America
| Chicago Tribune |
| International Herald Tribune |
| Los Angeles Times |
| New York Post |
| Newsday (N.Y.) |
| Newsweek - Print and Online |
| The Baltimore Sun |
| The Boston Globe |
| The Christian Science Monitor |
| The Globe and Mail (Canada) |
| The Miami Herald |
| The New York Sun |
| The New York Times |
| The San Francisco Chronicle |
| The Toronto Star |
| The Wall Street Journal |
| The Washington Post |
| The Washington Times |
| Time (US) |
| USA Today |
Appendix 2: Factiva codes
Factiva users can search the database by source, subject, industry, region or company. Here is a list of the parameters used in AlertNet's media monitoring.
| Sources: | 107 publications (see appendix 1) |
| Language: | English |
| Region: | Worldwide |
| Company: | Not applicable |
| Subject: | Only stories tagged to one of the following broad Factiva subject codes are deemed relevant by the system:
1. Crime/National security (Includes war crimes) 2. Politics/International relations (Includes development/humanitarian aid) 3 Risk news (Includes disasters/accidents, military action, civil disruption) 4. Poverty 5. Health (Includes outbreaks/epidemics, nutrition. Note: Some of the codes from this category are used to exclude irrelevant stories. |
| Industry: | Some of the codes from this category were used to exclude irrelevant stories. Below is the full list of exclusions: |
EXCLUDED FACTIVA SUBJECT CODES
Subject codes section: Commodity/Financial Market News
| Debt/Bond Markets |
| Derivative Securities |
| Emission Market |
| Equity Markets |
| Fund Markets |
| Crude Oil/Natural Gas Product Markets |
| Electricity Markets |
| Natural Gas Markets |
| Non-ferrous Metals |
| Cotton/Silk Markets |
| Orange Juice Markets |
| Money/Forex Markets |
| Abstract |
| Dow Jones/Reuters Top Wire News |
| Country Profile |
| News Digest |
| Press Release |
| Ranking |
| Routine General News |
| Survey/Poll |
| Table |
| Transcript |
| Bankruptcy |
| Capacity/Facilities |
| Franchises |
| Licensing Agreements |
| Outsourcing |
| Corporate Awards |
| Corporate Changes |
| Corporate Crime/Legal/Judicial |
| Funding/Capital |
| Business-to-Employee (B2E) |
| Employee Training/Development |
| Gross Misconduct/Malpractice |
| Lay-offs/Redundancies |
| Recruitment |
| Workers Pay |
| Work-Life Balance |
| Workplace Discrimination |
| Workplace Diversity |
| Workplace Safety/Health Issues |
| Management Issues |
| Advertising |
| Branding |
| Corporate Sponsorship |
| Domestic Markets |
| External Markets |
| Market Research |
| Market Share |
| Pricing |
| Usage Statistics |
| New Products/Services |
| Output/Production |
| Ownership Changes |
| Performance |
| Plans/Strategy |
| PPP/PFI |
| Product Safety |
| Profiles of Companies |
| Regulation/Government Policy |
| Research/Development |
| Small Business/Entrepreneurs |
| Information Technology |
Subject codes section: Economic News
| Bankruptcy Figures |
| Capacity Utilization |
| Car Registrations/Vehicle Sales |
| Consumer Credit/Expenditure/Savings |
| Consumer Sentiment |
| Employment Costs/Productivity |
| Factory Orders/Durable Goods |
| Government Borrowing Requirement |
| Housing Starts/Construction Figures |
| Industrial Production |
| Inventories |
| Money Supply |
| Mortgage Applications/Refinancing |
| Reserve Assets |
| Retail/Wholesale Sales |
| Service Sector Performance |
| Trade Figures |
| Euro Zone/Currency |
| Personal Income/Average Earnings |
| Business sentiment |
Subject codes section: Editor's Choice - Industry Trends/Analysis
| Editor's Choice - Industry Trends/Analysis |
Subject codes section: International Pol-Econ Organizations
| No subjects have been excluded from this group |
Subject codes section: Political/General News
| Armed Robbery |
| Assault |
| Burglary/Theft |
| Computer Crime |
| Transport |
| Science/Technology |
| Animal Rights |
| Cultural Heritage |
| Behavioral Addictions/Obsessions |
| Drug/Substance Abuse |
| Eating Disorders |
| Homelessness |
| Pornography |
| Welfare/Social Services |
| Death Penalty/Capital Punishment |
| Identity Theft |
| Slander/Libel |
| Animal Health |
| Occupational Health |
| Arthritis |
| Asthma |
| Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy |
| E.Coli |
| Parkinson's Disease |
| Physical Fitness |
Subject codes section: Sports/Recreation
| (As this subject appears as a subsection under Routine General News, the group has been excluded by excluding Routine General News) |
EXCLUDED INDUSTRY CODES:
Industry codes section: Accounting/Consulting| All of the codes within this group are excluded |
Industry codes section: Advertising/Public Relations/Marketing
| All of the codes within this group are excluded |
Industry codes section: Aerospace/Defense
| Aircraft Cabin Equipment |
| Aircraft Cabin Equipment |
| Aircraft Electronics |
| Aircraft Engines/Engine Parts |
| Aircraft Modification |
| Civil Aircraft |
| Civil Helicopters |
| Hovercraft |
| Space Vehicles |
Industry codes section: Agriculture/Forestry
| No subjects have been excluded from this group |
Industry codes section: Airlines
| All of the codes within this group are excluded |
Industry codes section: Automobiles
| All of the codes within this group are excluded |
Industry codes section: Banking/Credit
| Commercial Banking |
| Investment Banking/Securities Dealing |
| Online/Direct Banking |
| Private Banking/Wealth Management |
| Savings Institutions |
| Credit Types/Services |
Industry codes section: Business/Consumer Services
| All of the codes within this group are excluded |
Industry codes section: Chemicals
| All of the codes within this group are excluded |
Industry codes section: Clothing/Textiles
| Clothing Stores |
| Household Textiles Stores |
| Shoe Stores |
| Footwear |
| Sports Clothing/Footwear |
Industry codes section: Computers/Electronics
| Computers/Electronics |
Industry codes section: Construction/Real Estate
| Real estate |
| Special Trade Contractors |
| Building Completion |
| Hotel Construction |
| Institutional/Commercial Building Construction |
| Leisure Facility Construction |
| Retail Construction |
| Building Refurbishment |
| Parking Lot Construction |
Industry codes section: Consumer Products
| All of the codes within this group are excluded |
Industry codes section: Energy
| No subjects have been excluded from this group |
Industry codes section: Environment/Waste Management
| All of the codes within this group are excluded |
Industry codes section: Food/Beverages/Tobacco
| Beverages/Drinks |
| Tobacco Products |
| Bread/Bakery Products |
| Breakfast Cereals |
| Condiments/Sauces/Ingredients |
| Cookies/Crackers/Pasta |
| Dairy Products |
| Food Additives |
| Food Preserving/Speciality Foods |
| Food Retailing |
| Pet Food |
| Snack Foods |
| Confectionery |
| Sugar Substitutes |
Industry codes section: Health Care
| Alternative Health Practitioners |
| Dental Care |
| Plastic/Cosmetic Surgeons/Clinics |
| Veterinary Services |
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URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/chart/mediamonitoringmethodology.htm
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