Black Lives Matter to media (finally): A content analysis of news coverage during summer 2020

Abstract

This study examined 286 stories posted about the Black Lives Matter movement and protests following George Floyd’s death by the six most-viewed U.S. news outlets on Facebook during summer 2020. These organizations published a significant amount of content, though the frequency declined throughout the summer. Stories mostly framed protesters positively and police negatively. Organizations regularly used law/crime spot news to frame protests. The findings may signal a potential shift away from the media’s protest paradigm.

Black Lives Matter and Partisan Media

“…As hypothesized, left-wing media consumption was positively correlated with favorable perceptions of BLM, while right-wing media consumption showed a negative correlation. Studies have revealed that left-wing media tend to present civil rights movements in a positive light, while right-wing media's portrayals are relatively less positive (Cox 2022;Mehta 2020), and such differences in the presentation of the movement might produce opposite directions of correlations. Even after controlling for political ideology, party affiliation, and perceptions of racial inequality, these correlations remained statistically significant, suggesting that partisan media may play a role in affecting individual perceptions of BLM.…”

“…Nevertheless, there seem to be noticeable differences between right-and left-wing media in their presentations of such movements, with conservative right-wing media being less likely to portray the movements in a positive way than liberal left-wing media (Mehta 2020). For example, a recent study (Cox 2022) of news stories posted on Facebook by major U.S. news outlets provided evidence for the ideology-based media bias in presenting BLM. According to the study, during the 90 days immediately following George Floyd's death, about 35.8% of right-wing Fox News stories portrayed BLM and its protests in a positive frame, while as much as 82.0% and 92.1% of stories used a positive frame in CNN and MSNBC, which are left-wing news channels.…”

“…Our first set of hypotheses examines the role of partisan media usage in shaping audiences' perceptions of BLM. There is evidence to suggest that left-wing media are generally more supportive of civil rights movements, such as BLM, while right-wing media often provide critical perspectives on such movements (Cox 2022;Mehta 2020). Therefore, it can be hypothesized that the use of left-wing media will be positively correlated with holding favorable perceptions of BLM, while the use of right-wing media will show a negative correlation.…”

Violent incongruencies: Analyzing The New York Times’s discourse on George Floyd demonstrations and the Capitol riot

“…This recent research has shown the use of positive frames, both textually and visually, for protest demonstrations is beginning to rise in news media (Cowart et al, 2022; Cox, 2022; Elmasry and Nawawy, 2017). However, while the use of positive frames and negative frames of protest varies within news coverage, the construction of these frames does not.…”

“We’re not the first and we’re not going to be the last”: Perspectives of system-involved black and Latinx young adults on racial injustice during the 2020 black lives matter protests

“…As COVID-19 confined people to their homes, the video of George Floyd's death rapidly gained traction through social media and news outlets. Reactions to the video and quick organization from activists led to millions of people leaving the safety of quarantine to protest on the streets in support for Black lives and against racial injustice in the criminal legal system (Cox, 2022; Maqbool, 2020).…”