The Brown Institute, in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund, is excited to announce a research endeavor investigating and visualizing the patterns and trends of media coverage on population and fertility across eight countries, including the United States, Brazil, France, Hungary, Japan, Nigeria, India, and Egypt; countries identified by the UNFPA for a public perception survey conducted for the UNFPA flagship 2023 State of World Population report which was released April 19, 2023. Drawing on high-circulation news organizations as sources, specifically those identified in the Reuters Digital News Report, this study examines over 11 million news stories from 2020 through 2022. At its core, it looks to uncover the prevalence of population and fertility discussions within the larger media discourse in the different countries. Subsequently, when discussing population or fertility rates, what is the framing and tone of coverage? For example, the study examines the co-occurrence of population and economic concerns, fertility and health and education access, and population and migration, analyzed across countries. It also seeks to explore the article’s sentiment, highlighting what media coverage looks like at a country level. Through advanced data analysis and visualization techniques, the findings of this project will shed light on the patterns and dynamics of media coverage of population-related issues across diverse cultural and geographic contexts, providing valuable insights into how these issues are framed and discussed in the public sphere. Ultimately, this research will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the intersections between media and public perception on topics of population and fertility.
Full analysis coming in May 2023