Communication Technology and Reports on Political Violence

• Author: Mihai Croicu,Joakim Kreutz
• Date: 01 March 2017
• Published date: 01 March 2017
• DOI: 10.1177/1065912916670272
• Subject Matter: Articles

Political Research Quarterly

2017, Vol. 70(1) 19 –31

© 2016 University of Utah

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DOI: 10.1177/1065912916670272

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Article

Recent technological and methodological innovations

offer improved access to information from conflict zones

that previously were hidden from view. The ability to

collect and analyze event data provides contemporary

scholars with opportunities to explore micro-level mech-

anisms of repression, mobilization, and strategies of vio-

lence (K. Gleditsch, Metternich, and Ruggeri 2014).

Yet, we know little about possible bias in the data

provided by projects such as the Uppsala Conflict Data

Program (UCDP), Armed Conflict Location & Event

Data Project (ACLED), or the Political Instability Task

Force Worldwide Atrocities Dataset. In contrast to the

extensive literature on bias in newspaper-sourced data

(Earl et al. 2004; Fleeson 2003; Franzosi 1987; Galtung

and Ruge 1965; Snyder and Kelly 1977; Woolley 2000),

there have been few efforts to explore the quality of “Big

Data” in the Internet age (notable exceptions include

Price and Ball 2014; Weidmann 2015, 2016).

In this paper, we investigate whether access to com-

munication technology can account for spatial variation

with regard to the quality in conflict data. Drawing on the

media studies literature (Domingo and Paterson 2011;

Fenton 2010), we expect journalists who directly can be

in contact with primary sources through Internet and

mobile phones will be able to provide more detailed

reports about political violence. Considering that details

are essential for data collection projects to identify

perpetrators, severity, and targets for political violence

(Kreutz 2015b), we contend that even a marginal improve-

ment in quality may substantially influence information

used in much contemporary conflict scholarship. In par-

ticular, our study may be important for the growing inter-

est in whether modern communication technology assists

organized crime, terrorism, or insurgency (Andreas 2002;

Pierskalla and Hollenbach 2013; Shapiro and Weidmann

2015; Weimann 2006). If, as we expect, information about

violence is better reported in areas with developed com-

munication structures, then we cannot know whether tech-

nological advancement actually does increase violence or

if such correlations are spurious.

Empirically, we focus on the quality of reporting

political violence in Africa from 2008 to 2010. There are

three reasons for this. First, Africa is the region that,

together with Asia, has experienced the most armed

conflicts in the post–Cold War era.1 Second, Africa

is becoming known as “the mobile continent” due to

670272PRQXXX10.1177/1065912916670272Political Research QuarterlyCroicu and Kreutz

research-article2016

1Uppsala University, Sweden

2Stockholm University, Sweden

Corresponding Author:

Joakim Kreutz, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University,

Stockholm, Sweden.

Email: Joakim.kreutz@statsvet.su.se

Communication Technology and

Reports on Political Violence:

Cross-National Evidence Using

African Events Data

Mihai Croicu1 and Joakim Kreutz2

Abstract

The spread of Internet and mobile phone access around the world has implications for both the processes of

contentious politics and subsequent reporting of protest, terrorism, and war. In this paper, we explore whether

political violent events that occur close to modern communication networks are systematically better reported than

others. Our analysis approximates information availability by the level of detail provided about the date of each

political violent event in Africa from 2008 to 2010 and finds that although access to communication technology

improves reporting, the size of the effect is very small. Additional investigation finds that the effect can be attributed

to the ability of journalists to access more diverse primary sources in remote areas due to increased local access to

modern communication technology.

Keywords

communication technology, conflict event data, media bias, civil war, spatial analysis, data quality