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.

中文翻译：

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并非所有抗议活动都是新闻：移动数字连接是否为混合媒体系统提供了公平的竞争环境？


本研究调查了数字连接如何影响全球抗议活动的新闻报道。学者们认为，数字时代的到来并没有推翻传统媒体，而是建立了一个混合媒体系统，新旧媒体逻辑在这里协同工作。尽管最近的一些研究强调，移动互联网接入使抗议者能够在国际上获得媒体关注，但证据也表明，政权越来越有能力控制媒体环境，以影响对冲突的新闻报道。目前尚不清楚连接是否允许公民绕过言论自由的限制，以提高全球抗议活动的知名度。利用武装冲突地点和事件数据项目的最新全球覆盖数据以及其他知名项目的数据，这项研究整合了2018年至2021年间162个国家关于连通性、抗议和媒体关注的数据集。多层次负二项式回归结果显示，新旧媒体逻辑都解释了媒体对抗议活动的关注。一个国家/地区更高的移动拥有率和更广泛的网络覆盖率预示着更多的媒体关注，但社交媒体的渗透率却没有。更大、更富裕的国家，以及更暴力和致命的抗议活动也得到了更多的报道。然而，连通性的影响受到一个国家言论自由程度的限制。国家层面的互动显示表达自由度较低，并显著减弱了连通性对媒体关注度的影响。这项研究证明了混合媒体系统中的动态性。虽然连接性使更多的抗议信息得以流动，但各州本可以找到方法来遏制它传播开来，从而将其保持在可控的水平。