Three Local News Research Project data sets have been made available on this website for academic research. Please credit the Local News Research Project for any use of these data sets.
For past research projects, local news stories were collected and coded by trained coders for the purposes of exploring coverage format (news stories, opinion columns, photos, etc.), the amount of coverage, and the topics dealt with by local media outlets in their reporting on the Greater Toronto Area.
1. Local stories in the Toronto Star and Ming Pao (2008)
The 2008 data set includes local news items from the Toronto Star and the Toronto edition of the Chinese-language Ming Pao Daily News published between January 9th and August 12th, 2008, using constructed week sampling.
Local News Research Project 2008 data
2008 Toronto Star Intercoder Reliability Report
2008 Ming Pao Intercoder Reliability Report
2. Local stories in the Toronto Star and GTA ethnic newspapers (2011)
The 2011 data set includes local news items from the Toronto Star, the Toronto edition of the Korean language Korea Times Daily, Canadian Punjabi Post (a Brampton-based Punjabi-language newspaper), and Russian Express (a local Russian-language newspaper) published between January 4th and August 8th, 2011, using constructed week sampling. The data set also includes all stories published on OpenFile.ca (a now-defunct Toronto local news website) between January 1st and August 31st, 2011.
Local News Research Project 2011 data
2011 Toronto Star Intercoder Reliability Report
2011 Korean, Punjabi and Russian Newspapers Intercoder Reliability Report
2011 OpenFile Intercoder Reliability Report
3. Stories about the 2011 federal election in GTA ethnic newspapers
The 2011 election data set includes news items pertaining to the 2011 Canadian federal election that were published in five ethnic newspapers local to the Greater Toronto Area. Election-related news items were coded for Korea Times Daily, Ming Pao, Canadian Punjabi Post, Punjabi Daily, and Russian Express between March 25, 2011, and May 4, 2011, using constructed week sampling. Data were collected for election-related stories, photos and advertisements.