Framing police and protesters: assessing volume and framing of news coverage post-Ferguson, and corresponding impacts on legislative activity

The 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO intensified debates on policing in Black and minority communities and served as a major catalyst for protest movements such as Black Lives Matter (BLM). We assess the degree to which the volume and tone of news media coverage of policing and protests...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Politics, groups & identities groups & identities, 2019-01, Vol.7 (1), p.151-164
Main Authors: Arora, Maneesh, Phoenix, Davin L., Delshad, Archie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountability
agenda building
agenda setting
Autonomy
Black Lives Matter movement
Demonstrations & protests
Frame analysis
frames
Killing
Legislation
Legislatures
Mass media
Media
Media coverage
Minority groups
News media
police
Police community relations
Police reform
policy
protest
Protest movements
race
Responsiveness
State legislatures
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Summary:The 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO intensified debates on policing in Black and minority communities and served as a major catalyst for protest movements such as Black Lives Matter (BLM). We assess the degree to which the volume and tone of news media coverage of policing and protests changed in the post-Ferguson environment. We also examine the impact of this volume and framing of news coverage on the legislative activity on policing across all 50 state legislatures. Observational analyses from two original data sets yield two key observations. First, the initial increase and subsequent decline in news media attention devoted to policing post-Ferguson are associated with corresponding rises and wanes in the amount of policing legislation proposed and passed across state legislatures. Second, the relative proportions of news stories framing either the police or protesters demanding police reform as legitimate correspond with the amounts of state bills working to either enhance police autonomy or increase police accountability, respectively. We discuss what these trends imply about the capacity of mainstream news media to influence policy responsiveness to the demands of protesters.
ISSN:2156-5503
2156-5511
DOI:10.1080/21565503.2018.1518782