Media in the Geopolitical Crossfire: Identification and Novel Data Sources for IB Research

Abstract

The media is a rich data source for IB scholars to study policy uncertainty, stakeholder attention, and issue salience. However, the media is exposed to geopolitical tension and political interference. The resulting bias distorts the insights scholars gain from media analysis and leads to potentially impaired conclusions. This study introduces GDELT and Google Trends as novel data sources to handle this challenge. Their usefulness is illustrated by an analysis of media coverage of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine in 2022. The paper guides scholars in conducting media-based research in the face of abrupt geopolitical tension and political interference.