How do the BBC, The Guardian, CNN, The New York Times and Fox News Frame the Motives Behind International Protests?

Abstract

In the 2010s, people around the world protested on an almost unprecedented scale against corruption, the breakdown of democratic principles, rising prices, and other causes that undermine well-being. Unsurprisingly, these demonstrations received considerable media attention. In my study, I examine the framing of the triggers of the protests between 2010 and 2020 and their interconnections within news coverage, based on news reports from the BBC and The Guardian in the UK, and CNN, The New York Times and Fox News in the U.S. In my analysis, I examined 469 reports from 112 countries. The research is based on manual, quantitative content and network analysis. The main findings of the research are the following: in a quarter of the news stories, the abovementioned media outlets highlighted opposition to the political elite as the cause of the protests. Furthermore, opposition to the political elite is also identified as one of the other reasons that motivate people to demonstrate. Such reasons could have included corruption or dissatisfaction with legislative processes that could threaten people’s well-being.