Third Eye Data: TV News Archive chyrons
The Third Eye: TV News Archive Chyrons dataset captures and analyzes the "lower third" text, known as chyrons, displayed during live TV news broadcasts. This dataset provides a unique look into the real-time editorial choices of major news networks, offering insights into how different media outlets frame news stories. Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, chyrons are extracted and archived continuously, making it possible to track how key topics are covered over time.
At its inception in September 2017, the dataset collected chyrons from four major news networks: BBC News, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. Within just two weeks of its launch, over four million chyrons had already been captured, highlighting the vast amount of real-time data available. The dataset has been continuously updated since, allowing for longitudinal studies of media framing and news presentation trends. It's size is approximately 12.5 kB in TSV format.
The dataset is structured into several key components. Each chyron entry includes:
- The exact chyron text, showing the wording used by the network.
- Timestamps, allowing analysis of how frequently specific topics appear.
- Channel identifiers, enabling comparisons between different networks.
- Duration data, indicating how long a chyron remained on screen, which can suggest emphasis or prioritization of certain stories.
By leveraging this dataset, researchers, journalists, and media analysts can examine bias in news presentation, media influence on public perception, and breaking news coverage trends. It serves as a powerful tool for studying news framing, editorial strategies, and the evolution of televised news narratives across competing networks.