Mass Media and Protest Movements: from Data Sources to Contentious Actors

Abstract

This panel explores the intricate relationship between mass media and protest movements in the digital age. Activist and movement organizations had always engaged with the mass media to increase their visibility and, as such, be recognized as legitimate political actors. Also for this reason, and despite recurring biases in the mass media coverage of protests, social movement scholars employ newspaper articles and other types of news as a source of data about mobilizations and activists' claim-making. The papers included in this panel address the long-standing debate about the relationship between mass media and social movements considering what happens to it in the digital age.

Title	Details
A Generalizing Approach to Protest Event Detection in German Local News	View Paper Details
Activism in emergencies: comparing media discourses about solidarity activism in the migration and Covid crises	View Paper Details
Elites, media, civic and scientific education, and response to Covid-19 in the US and Romania	View Paper Details
The platforms’ governance of far-right conspiracism	View Paper Details
The Effects of the Rally-round-the-flag Effect and Indirect Media Blackout on Mobilization during the Pandemic	View Paper Details