Not All Protests are Created Equal to be News: Does Mobile Digital Connectivity Level the Playing Field in the Hybrid Media System?

Abstract

This study investigates how digital connectivity may influence news coverage of protests globally. Scholars argue that the arrival of the digital age did not overthrow legacy media but built a hybrid media system where old and new media logics work together. Although some recent studies highlighted that mobile internet access enabled protestors to gain media attention internationally, evidence also suggests that regimes were increasingly capable of controlling media environments to shape news coverage of conflicts. It remains unclear if connectivity allows citizens to bypass limitations in free speech to increase protest visibility on a global scale. Leveraging the latest global coverage of the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project data and data from other well-established projects, this study consolidated a dataset of 162 countries between 2018 and 2021 on connectivity, protests, and media attention. Multilevel negative binomial regressions results showed that new and old media logics both explained media attention on protests. Higher mobile ownership and broader network coverage in a country predicted more media attention, but not social media penetration. Larger and richer countries, and protests that were more violent and fatal also received more coverage. Nevertheless, the effects of connectivity were constrained by the level of freedom of expression in a country. Country-level interactions showed lower freedom of expression and significantly attenuated the effect of connectivity on media attention. This study demonstrated the dynamics in the hybrid media system. While connectivity enabled more protest information to flow, states could have found methods to curb it from getting viral, thus living with it at a manageable level.