framing #vemprarua

Background

Protest paradigm: structural biases that produce a pattern of coverage of SMO actions

Entman & Rojecki (1992): the news grants legitimacy to participation by movements with little institutionalized power in politics but only so long as they steer clear of effective political action.

Historical overview of protest coverage in Brazil: media “flip-flop,” legitimizing protests when they become more powerful.

Research questions and hypothesesHow did Brazilian media outlets cover the 2013 protests online?

RQ1: What frames were employed by main media outlets when covering the 2013 Brazilian protests online?

RQ2: What frames were employed by bloggers when referring to the 2013 Brazilian protests?

RQ3: What frames were employed by Twitter users when referring to the 2013 Brazilian protests?

H1: The more people participate in protests, the more the media use “legitimizing” frames when covering them.

H2: The broader and more resonant the collective action frames, the more the media use “legitimizing” frames to cover the protests.

Method

Computerized content analysis using the software Crimson-Hexagon

Sub-data sets: a) news websites; b) blogs and forums; c) Twitter news outlets; d) Twitter general

Machine learning: a sample was used to train the program on the various frames proposed by Hertog and McLeod (2001): confrontation, riot and debate

Algorithm applied the lessons to the large data sets based on the identification of central concepts (Hertog & McLeod, 2001; Miller & Riechert, 2001)

Results were compared with a timeline of the events (H1)

Hashtags were used as a proxy for the movement’s demands (H2)

News websites

Blogs

Twitter: news and general

Results

So what?

Brazilian media followed the “protest paradigm” more closely at the beginning of events, but migrated to legitimizing frames as public support increased (H1 supported).

This is consistent with the literature on media coverage of previous protests in the country, but in contrast to US theory.

News stories follow public support in the streets. Twitter news accounts follow public support on the Twittersphere.

The rise of the resonant “rights frame” was closely followed by legitimizing media coverage (H2 supported).

What’s next? Software training limited: could not identify the circus

frame.

Future studies on frame sponsorship are needed to understand Brazilian media’s “flip-flop” behavior.

Next step: compare the results of media frames analysis to the collective action frames promoted by SMOs and political elites on blogs and Twitter.

Thank you!

rachelmourao@gmail.com

@rachelmourao

rachelmourao.wordpress.com