PageOneX: New Approaches to Newspaper Front Page Analysis

Abstract

PageOneX is a Free/Libre and Open Source Software tool that we designed to aid in the coding, analysis, and visualization of newspaper front pages. Communication scholars have long analyzed newspaper front pages, using column inches as an important indicator of mass media attention. In the past, this involved obtaining physical copies of newspapers, coding and measurement by hand, and manual input of measurements into a spreadsheet or database, followed by calculation, analysis, and visualization. PageOneX automates some of these steps, simplifies others, and makes it possible for teams of investigators to conduct shared newspaper front page analysis online. We review scholarship in this area, describe our approach in depth, provide concrete examples of analysis conducted by media scholars using PageOneX, and discuss future directions for research and development.