By Danielle K. Brown
Protest movements can look very different depending on where you stand, both literally and figuratively.
For protesters, demonstrations are usually the result of meticulous planning by advocacy groups and leaders aimed at getting a message out to a wider world or to specific institutional targets. To outside onlookers, however, protests can seem disorganized and disruptive, and it can be difficult to see the depth of the effort or their aims.
Take the pro-Palestinian protests that have sprung up at campuses across the United States in recent weeks. To the students taking part they are, in the words of one protester, “uplifting the voices of Gazans, of Palestinians facing genocide.” But to many people outside the universities, the focus has been on confrontations and arrests.
Where does this disconnect come from? Most people don’t participate in on-the-streets protests or experience any of the disruption that they cause. Rather they rely on the media to give a full picture of the protests.
For over a decade, my research has extensively explored trends in how the media shapes narratives around different kinds of demonstrations. Reporting on the campus encampments by large parts of the media fits a general pattern of protest coverage that focuses more on the drama of the disruption rather than the underlying reasons behind it – and that can leave audiences uninformed about the nuances of the protests and the movements behind them.
Covering drama over demands
Protests – from small silent sit-ins and mass marches to the current student-led encampments – share similar components.
They require a degree of planning, focus on a perceived injustice and seek reforms or solutions. Protests also, by their very nature, engage in varying degrees of disruptive actions that exist in confrontation with something or someone, and utilize strategies that attract the attention of news media and others.
These core elements – grievances, demands, disruption, confrontation and spectacle – are present in nearly all protests.
But to the media, some elements are more newsworthy than others, with confrontation and spectacle often topping the list. As a result, these elements tend to be covered more often than others.
In research focusing on social movements like Black Lives Matter, the 2017 Women’s March and others, I have found that time
and again, coverage tends to headline the parts of the protest that are sensational and disruptive.
And this neglects the political substance of the protests. The grievances, demands and agendas are often left in the shadows. For example, analysis of the 2020 protests following the murder of George Floyd conducted by myself and colleague Rachel Mourão found the Associated Press and cable news headlines were more likely to focus on disruption and chaos than police violence or protester demands.
This pattern is referred to as the protest paradigm. While there are many factors that can make this paradigm fluctuate, like the timing of stories and the location of a news organization, movements that seek to disrupt the status quo are the most likely to receive initial coverage that frames protesters as criminal, irrelevant, trivial or illegitimate components of the political system.
When the media takes notice
This pattern can be seen in the initial coverage of protests against the war in Gaza at U.S.-based universities. These protests began in 2023 and only escalated into the campus encampments seen today after months of campaigning.
In the months leading up to the encampments, many students who were engaged in advocacy efforts over the Israeli campaign in Gaza demanded, among other things, that their universities divest from businesses connected to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
Students at Brown University participated in a hunger strike in February. Also in February, a coalition of students across several historically Black colleges crafted a joint call to action across university systems. Students at my university – Michigan State – rallied support through an online petition and then lobbied at board of trustee meetings. When the board of trustees issued a statement refusing divestment of any kind, students continued to march to the steps of the main administration building where they continued to protest, all before planning the encampment protests.
Little of this made it into mainstream news reports compared to late April, when an uptick in coverage corresponded with students organizing encampments at universities and university official began to respond. Those universities that asked police to enforce the dispersion of protesters amplified the intensity of confrontation, and, in turn, amplified the news coverage.
And rather than focusing on the grievance of protesters — that is, concerns about the deaths, injuries and looming famine affecting Palestinians — in reports of the campus encampments it has been the confrontations between protesters and police that have become central to the news media coverage.
As with all trends, there are always deviations and outliers. Not all reported pieces align with the protest paradigm. In the research examining news coverage after the murder of George Floyd, we found that when reports in major news outlets deviate from the protest paradigm, it was often in work produced by journalists who have engaged deeply and frequently with a community.
In the current campus protests, it is student journalism that has emerged as an outlier in this respect. Take, for example, an article from the Indiana Daily Student published during the peak of the unrest, which explains the lesser-known last-minute administrative policy changes that ultimately disrupted protest planning logic and contributed to the arrests and temporary bans of faculty and student protesters.
Who gets quoted, who doesn’t
There are commercial reasons why some newsrooms focus on the spectacle and confrontation – the old journalism adage of “if it bleeds, it leads” still prevails in many newsroom decisions. For the initial weeks of the campus protests, this penchant for sensationalism has shown up in the focus on chaos, clashes and arrests.
But it is a decision that delegitimizes protest aims.
This delegitimization is aided by the sourcing routines journalists often fall back on to tell stories quickly and without legal consequence. In breaking news situations, journalists tend to gravitate toward – and directly quote – sources that hold status, like government and university officials. This is because reporters may already have an established relationship with such officials, who often have dedicated media relations teams. And in the case of campus protests, in particular, reporters have faced difficulty connecting with protest participants directly.
As a result, official narratives may dominate news coverage. So when officials like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott equate protesters to criminals with antisemitic intentions, that typically gets covered – certainly more than any rebuttal from protest participants.
And because readers and viewers are unlikely to be on the ground to gauge Abbott’s characterizations of protesters for themselves, the coverage can shape how a protest movement and the politics around it are understood.
The media shapes the way most people understand them. But as coverage of the protests across universities has shown, often the focus is on the spectacle rather than the substance.
Danielle K. Brown is Professor of Journalism at Michigan State University.
J.B. says
What a bunch of garbage. Maybe just maybe the goofballs in Palestine shouldn’t have let Hamas hide behind them. These protests need to be stopped and those doing it held accountable.
Pogo says
@And so it goes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lvmeCHYyZI
Cruelty is fed, not weakened, by tears.
— Tacitus
Hippy says
I realize it is not all but if what some of the “protesters” (i like to think of them as naive children who do not have a clue of what the cause of deaths is in Gaza) are chanting, kill all the Jews, destruction of Israel, and river to the sea, was substituted and changed to something derogatory to African Americans, the media, including FL, would be in an uproar and there would be riot and burning and looting of stores like after a bad cop killed a bad guy, in Minnesota.
Deborah Coffey says
I don’t disagree about media coverage of protests. However, when MSNBC showed the huge banner crying “INTIFADA” hanging outside Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, I was done with the protests and the protesters. It made me wonder why the students didn’t protest against what Hamas did to Israelis on October 7th. Was killing babies, raping women, and kidnapping people okay with them? I don’t think the student protesters can protest with such one-sided simplicity.
DaleL says
In addition, after the October 7th attack until the IDF invaded Gaza on October 27, 2023, Hamas aligned militants fired some 8,500 unguided rockets into Israel.
Hamas militants on 4/25/2024 fired mortar rounds at the crews that were preparing for the construction of a pier to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza.
On May 5, 2024, Hamas attacked Israel’s main crossing point for delivering humanitarian aid, killing three soldiers.
The suffering in Gaza is very real, but it is Hamas that has provoked this conflict and continues to prevent peace. It is Hamas which continues to hold Israeli civilians hostage. The reporting I have read about the attitude in Israel is one of horror and anger at Hamas and the Palestinians in Gaza who have enabled and supported Hamas. Protests at American colleges are not likely to influence Israeli voters.
Deborah Coffey says
Thank you for adding additional information. It’s hard to choose a side in this war. We can equally despise Hamas and Bibi Netanyahu along with his far right wing bloodthirsty cabinet.
DaleL says
Agreed. We also must understand the politics which help keep Netanyahu in office. Israeli voters have shown in the past that they will back more moderate politicians when there is a prospect for peace. Hamas and to a lessor extent Hezbollah create the conditions for Netanyahu to stay in office.
The campus protesters need to focus on peace and be just as angry at Hamas as with Netanyahu & his government.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
Ridiculous but unsurprising take. You’ve managed to means test a protest due to a single banner shown on MSNBC that you happen to disagree with.
dave says
This article can be a continuation of the April 2024 article titled ‘Journalism in Crisis’. Same logic. The media is always looking for shock and awe and they will report accordingly. .
Ed P says
Is anyone getting tired of being told that you just don’t understand? You can’t believe your lying eyes. What you think you feel is wrong. The elites must know.
Let’s talk inflation, yes it’s coming down, indeed. From a nose bleeding high that left many families unable to afford basic necessities. It has not reduced enough for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. Why don’t you feel better? You can’t afford that house or car due to interest rates and groceries are painfully expensive. You are wrong, you are better off today, you just don’t understand. Hang in there,
Let’s talk crime. You see civil disorder and you foolishly mistake that for crime, because the FBI says crime is on the decline. Except you fear walking in the metro areas at night or to take a subway in any major metro area. You are wrong. What you feel is not crime. Fear is not crime stupid.
We have been divided and segregated all the way down to political positions that don’t deserve enough respect to get out birth given name capitalized. Anyone here at F.L.who does not walk in lock step with the left is tagged with ridiculous moniker. Some vile, such as Nazi, fascist, bigot, or racist. Some Flagler live posters are referred to as gullible which is a kind synonym for fool.
I’m surprised at times by the lack of intellectual honesty and the useless posts I read daily. Would my time be better spent straightening my sock drawer? I have been edified on occasion. I have tried to be an opposing/counter balance here at Flagler Live but the echo chamber is like a cacophony. Fox News, Fox News, MAGA…..
My gratitude and respect goes out to Ray W ( don’t know how you keep doing it) and to Mr Pierre Tristam. Thank you.
Sherry says
Face it. . . we, unfortunately, live in the age of complete “tabloid” journalism. If it isn’t sensational in violence/sex the story gets zero screen or print time by main stream media. trump knows this. . . that is why he is more upset by the Stormy Daniels testimony than by the data/facts which will, hopefully, find him criminally guilty.
Ray W. says
Hello Ed P. Thank you for your observations.
I wish to say that no matter how much I disagree with you, I will always refer to you as you choose to spell your name. In my youth, Black citizens were routinely demeaned by court personnel who declined to call out their proper names. I was taught at a young age that simple respect demanded of me a recognition of how one wishes to be addressed. I always refer to Pierre Tristam as Mr. Tristam, but I knew him enough before I retired that I could call him Pierre without disrespecting him.
Second, since retiring after my heart attack, I have more time. I miss the practice of law, but I left a high-stress unit (I was assigned to defend murder cases, including death penalty cases) several years after my cardiologist opined that my blood enzyme numbers suggested that I had had a massive heart attack. She told me that when I came into the hospital, I was likely going to die from a suddenly formed 100% artery blockage. I spoke with a now-deceased medical examiner who concluded that what I experienced was likely what is commonly known as the widowmaker. I knew enough to know that chronic stress constricts arteries and veins. Continuing that type of work seemed a fool’s pursuit to me.
Third, I did not immediately begin to post comments to FlaglerLive when I retired. I was jousting at my own windmills. But, when I learned that a local Republican politician had taken to the air to ask just when he could begin beheading Democrats, I found new windmills to topple. I say now what I said in the beginning: We are in the early stages of what will likely be a decades long era of political violence. If I don’t oppose those who wish to overthrow our experimental liberal democratic Constitutional republic, what would I be?
I now comment because I also oppose the stupidity of the political absurdist. These lying liars are learning how to better manipulate the gullible among us. They erect so many windmills that no one person can ever tilt at them all. I have to pick and choose, just as Mr. Tristam has to pick and choose; he cannot possibly joust at every windmill erected by Flagler County’s 130,000 residents, else he burn himself out. Yet I repeatedly read of stupid commenters who think they are proving something when they point out that not every story that catches their eye or ear becomes the subject of a FlaglerLive article. The only thing they are proving is their stupidity. As a famous Texas criminal defense attorney replied after being criticized for taking a vacation before the start of a notorious murder trial: “I can do a year’s worth of work in eleven months, but I can’t do it in twelve.” There are just way too many windmills to report on them all.
When our governor stated on the presidential campaign trail that he intended to “slit throats” on his first day in office, if elected, I opposed his vengeful windmill. When I learned of a son murdering his father because his father was a federal employee, I suggested that our governor’s violent rhetoric could have been related to the act. That the son slit his father’s throat when cutting off his head and then ranted on a social media video forum about the necessity of murdering all federal employees while holding up his father’s severed head helped support my inference that violent campaign rhetoric is destructive.
When one of our two major presidential candidates promised his followers that he would “crush vermin” if elected, I opposed his vengeful windmill.
When an elected Senator encouraged vigilantes to throw protesters off bridges, I opposed his vengeful windmill.
When Kari Lake, an Arizona candidate for Senate, told her followers at a rally that they needed to strap on “Glocks” during the upcoming federal election, I opposed her vengeful windmill for two reasons. One, she is fomenting the spread of potential political violence. But secondly, she knows that the wife of Arizona’s second Senator, a U.S. House member in her own right, was shot at a rally by a Glock-wielding domestic terrorist who shot 18 other rally attendees. Candidate Lake’s actual opponent wasn’t inferred. Did Ms. Lake know what she was saying? Watch the video and listen to her pause for effect, just after she advises that people need to strap on the armor of God before they strap on a Glock.
Is there a pattern to my jousting at windmills? Do I oppose the vengeful among us? The manipulative lying liars among us? The confabulating stupid political absurdists among us? Is that enough to keep me busy? Are there enough jousters among the FlaglerLive commenting population to tilt against the other party? If there are, all I ask is that they joust with intellectual rigor, that they employ the forms of reason known to our founding fathers!
I believe that you, Ed P, accept that I don’t always agree with you. But I think you also accept that what I think of your comments is not important to me. What is important to me is that you endeavor to present the voice of the true conservative, not the voice of today’s “pestilential” partisan member of faction. I look forward to your comments. I know that there are many FlaglerLive commenters who are better educated than me or who are more experienced than me, or both. There just has to be! Why would I discourage the “virtuous” partisan member of faction, one who is both knowledgeable and experienced, from offering wisdom for all to absorb?
In summary, I decided long ago to limit my FlaglerLive jousting to only those windmills that are continuously erected by the vengeful among us. That this happens to be almost exclusively limited to today’s misguided Republican politicians and their many “pestilential” followers is not my fault. I point out that one of this week’s exercises in Republican stupidity focuses on alleged danger posed by the undocumented immigrant voter. That the Heritage Foundation studied municipal, county, state and federal elections dating from 2002 to 2023 and found a total of 85 instances of undocumented immigrants voting throughout the entire nation means nothing to today’s no-longer-conservative political bloc. I will oppose the politically vengeful among us, the deplorable among us, the lying liars among us, the indecent among us. Other FlaglerLive commenters can oppose the comparatively decent among us if they wish.
Ed P says
Good morning Ray W,
This will in fact be my last post on Flagler Live, probably to the joy of some. I’m not confident that FlaglerLive will post my thoughts and that is at least a small factor solidifying my departure.
I’m not willing to chase windmills, the unwillingness of the majority of the posting community to be civil and respectful is childish. How am I to ever accept an alternate view from someone who is unwilling to engage in thoughtful, enlightening debate? My sock drawer is calling.
The concept that even a broken clock is correct twice a day is lost on this community. Certainly some local Republican accomplishments are good, what is the fear of speaking the truth?
The negativity against everything Red is ridiculous.
You are undoubtedly the most cerebral poster here and yet even your comments above conveniently excluded, the likes of Maxine Waters,Chuck Schumer ( SCOTUS will the price), lying Adam Schiff, or even Hillary Clinton. They all have commented in outlandish circumstances but crickets. Just Red. Don’t their positions concern you?
On occasion, FlaglerLive has opted to pass on my posts, offered to let me change them, and has even chastised me via email when I veered too far into the weeds. Probably for my own good and to protect a few “donors.” I understand. I do thank him for the limited platform he provided.
I accept the mission of Flagler Live but reject the fact that it leads the general audience (based on content of posts) to shallow conclusions that are not always factual. When a conservative presents an alternate view, the community snaps back, “prove it”
Asking for factual sources and then denigrating them afterwards.
Yet, they can post an asinine comment and no one calls them out, no one points out their follies or inaccurate assumption. It prints and we move on. A knife should cut both ways on occasion. That too should be your job, not just calling out the Red but the Blue too.
FlaglerLive says
To be clear: Ed P has had 137 approved comments, and since the beginning of the year has had just three held back with explanations as to why–specifying the comment-policy violations–and recommendations on how to get them cleared. He will not find a more welcoming forum anywhere in this region. But his presumption that his unsupported commentary is owed to total deference, as no one’s is here (blue, red, purple, black or otherwise), and his tendency to generalize and mischaracterize by velvet-gloved innuendo, let alone stupid and false claims about “donors” (who get no more deference than he does: we’ve returned donations to those who think they’re owed anything) trip him up, as is the case in his comment above.
Ray W. says
Hello Ed P.
I am saddened to read that you are giving up.
As I openly state, I want others to critique the blue liars among us. There are many. I can joust at only so many windmills. This site already consumes a lot of time.
Of course you hear crickets from me on many issues. I have openly and repeatedly said I was limiting my comments to those who pose a violent threat to our liberal democratic Constitutional republic. Those who misinform and disinform FlaglerLive readers in order to further the violent among us get a response from me, too. But I don’t ever read of “lying Adam Schiff” telling rally attendees to strap on Glocks before voting, so you are correct, crickets from me.
Come to think of it, I don’t recall reading in your comments any condemnation of Kari Lake. Do you limit your comments like I do? Crickets to those who promise to “slit throats?”
I want you to criticize “lying Adam Schiff”, only please do so with intellectual rigor. Again and again, I do not always agree with you, but your voice can be important if it is refined and modified by experience. Some of that might come from those who critique you. Embrace the bad. Get better for it. Who knows the pleasure you might experience upon posting a relevant well-thought-out argument that pisses someone else off?
But if this is the last I read from you, I respect your decision and wish you well in whatever you choose to do.
Kennan says
Ed I’m an old-school liberal and believe that I have a unique and more nuance understanding of Gazza than most. However.; I have been met with some contention over comments I made about the holocaust and the genocide. We are seeing right now in Gaza, how I believe in someways it is as bad as the original holocaust because of its open frivolity in a 21st century, modern society, it’s acceptance and funding by the US in front of everybody. That being said, I will not walk back any of the things I’ve said on the subject.
Listen, you’re not gonna please everyone. As long as you are not saying anything racist and deeply egregious post on.
I have some very deep feelings on things, and I really disagree with people, and I know people disagree with me. This stuff has become uniquely American and it’s bullshit. We have to have labels and symbols for everything George Carlin said,” Symbols are for the symbol minded”. I agree. As long as you are not a blatant racist, who cares. All her thoughts collectively are valuable to someone Ed. Keep posting.
Kennan says
JB, hippie, Dale, among others. Do I have to do this again?
Ignorance is sometimes done on purpose to support a narrative that is aligned with the lies stereotypes, and sorry to say… Stupidity.
Listen, There are a few bad players in every group or in this case protesters. The vast majority of these students have addressed a genocide. Yes that’s right a genocide. The genocide in front of our eyes in real time for the last seven months. I honestly think anyone with a brain knows this. I also think the world is in fear of speaking against Israel, thins. I also think the world is in fear of speaking against Israel, Because they think that Israel, Zionists And Jews are the same thing. Well, let me tell you my friends. They most certainly are not. Credibly different.
Many jews have been sitting and marching in solidarity with the Palestinian protesters. Quite a large number in fact. If you had been paying any attention whatsoever, you would know that the violence has been coming from counter protesters, supporting Israel, throwing fireworks bottles, spitting and beating up mostly Peaceful protesters.
The Israeli government, IDF officials, Jewish lobbies, and representatives on Capitol Hill have made calculated comments and lies, to depict protesters as Hamas sympathizers. That is done on purpose, because it is effective at making the large numbers of ignorant American viewers that do not understand the conflict the history, and now the genocide in Gaza. Yes, unfortunately there have been a couple of dummies that have made some very stupid comments about Jewish people. There’s no denying that, but again most of the kids out there know what this is about know what’s happening and have a problem with it. We should too. I have Jewish friends many. My father had many Jewish friends too. He was a Syrian national And An expert on the Middle East.
What we see now are news outlets like CNN, Fox, MSNBC, among others, talk about Jewish hostages, which are of course of upmost importance, but never mention Palestinians and the genocide they are being besieged with. It’s as if they’re an afterthought it’s funny they ask guests on their shows if they condemn what Hamas did, but they never ask anybody on the other side if they condemn the
genocide that is quite obvious happening in front of everyone’s eyes.
The United States in Israel shouldn’t get to live in an echo chamber, while the rest of the world sees what’s happening, condemn it, and all the United States can do is make excuses for Israel’s war crimes. The UN sees it. The international court of Justice sees it. it’s a little scary when your peers all over the world see what this is and because you’re America you think you’re so much better than everyone else, that what everyone else thinks doesn’t matter. This is not just a Biden, problem, or Republican problem, or an independent problem. This is an American problem. And it’s ugly. We constantly double down on how we’re the greatest country in the world. I’m here to tell you we’re not. We may not be the worst, But we Are far from the best. The shining city on the hill? Are you kidding? What makes us patriots is our ability to question our country because of the so-called freedom we have. Those freedoms have become an illusion. it’s no longer about our first amendment rights. It’s about whose First amendment rights We choose to assign importance to. Usually the assholes with the best lobby.
We need to wake up!!!!! The Middle East has continued to bite us in the ass for decades, but I fear it’s going to bite hard this time.
Israel will become a pariah all over the world. And rightfully so, and the US unfortunately is not far behind. We are a county that needs to back up all the big talk about what kind of country we used to be, but if we want to have a chance to be that country, we have to prove that we are just not the country that can blow everybody up because we have the weapons, but we have to show the world that we are the empathetic moralistic country we say we are. I think the majority of the country feels that this is all wrong, but our voices have not been heard, at all. The protests and marches all over the country number in the millions. People think this is wrong. Our public servants have failed us immensely with their deafness and lack of morality. They have put one group of people so far above the other, and actually put those people above the people of our own country. We should be very afraid. The optics of this are very bad and it is beginning to show that our system of government and decency is crumbling.WHO ARE WE?
Sherry says
Excellent. . . thought provoking comment, Kennan! Who are we, indeed?!
Skibum says
While I won’t begrudge anyone’s right to peacefully protest, there IS a difference between a protest march or assembly, as opposed to a complete, days long takeover of a college or university campus. There IS a difference between speaking your mind while holding up banners and signs, as opposed to defacing buildings and statues with spray painted graffiti, breaking windows and causing other damage to property. There IS a difference between opposing groups of demonstrators and counter demonstrators getting their messages heard without people on either side violently attacking and assaulting others. Yes, we allow and tolerate traffic disruptions and blockages of streets and roads when large, peaceful groups of protesters want to march en-masse at times, but we do not allow or tolerate long, multi-day blockages of streets or highways just because protesters refuse to leave! Colleges and universities should be no different. The complete takeovers and disruption to all classes and graduations of those who have been working hard to educate themselves should never have been allowed to devolve into the mass chaos on many campuses as we have been seeing. And for the media to give so much voice and sympathy to those who were breaking the law, I believe it just allowed for more students and outside agitators to be drawn to the protests and prolonged the takeovers because the university administrators saw their own professors align themselves with the protesters in many instances and made those takeovers even more difficult to resolve internally. It is one thing for the media to be completely unbiased and merely report on what is happening, but I think too much was being reported on air over the past few weeks in support of the takeovers and larger Palestinian movement, and it has made me wonder where were the masses of protesters eight months ago when Hamas terrorists killed and/or kidnapped so many innocent Israeli citizens who were no threat to them? I am one of the many who believe Netanyahu needs to go because he is only prolonging this war as a means to survive the justice that should be coming to him, and I do support the Palestinians” right to have their own land, but it seems from what I have been witnessing, too much media attention is being put on the plight of the Palestinians and the protesters here, and that, I think, is having a negative affect on law enforcement’s response and ability to peacefully intervene and remove the protesters from all of the campuses where chaos has reigned for weeks. Enough is enough!
Kennan says
Well, protests are never convenient. They shouldn’t be. Unfortunately they would have a 0% success rate if they were.
Like it or not these students need the opportunity,for good or ill.. To figure out were the envelope is and figure out how hard to push. it’s almost part of the educational process under the freedoms we profess to charish. What we don’t need is police officers and security beating the shit out of peaceful protesters,and counter “pro Israel” protesters doing the same, as well as spitting and throwing fireworks at them (UCLA),
they also beat up faculty members, many of which were older.
The lobbies like AIPAC, as well as maniacs like BENJAMIN NETANYAHU calling students NAZIS actually promote the violence and misimformation (lies) that fuether nurtures the ignorance that is the “average American” when it comes to GAZA.