Deaf President Now! Positive Media Framing of a Social Movement within a Hegemonic Political Environment

Abstract

Newspaper coverage of the political movement Deaf President Now (DPN) was evaluated for evidence of positive or negative framing in photographic and written content. This research found that DPN enjoyed four exclusively positive frames in the media. The results of this study suggest that the coverage was due to several factors: the intended availability of protest sources, a lack of expedience on the part of elite sources, the organization of protest events, assimilation of elites within the movement, frame extension of the movement's causes, sponsorship from corporations, liaisons with journalists, the narrow focus of the movement, and the ideological assumptions of disability in society. This article suggests that only through the serendipitous conjunction of all the above-mentioned traits was DPN able to achieve its goals. Furthermore, because of these exceptional qualities, it was suggested that the positive media frames of DPN did not contradict any previous claims of oppressive hegemonic structures within political media coverage.

(De)stigmatizing the Silent Epidemic: Representations of Hearing Loss in Entertainment Television

“…campaign, 3 the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Food and Drug Administration's approval of cochlear implants for children as young as 12 months ("Cochlear Implants," 2011;Essex-Sorlie, 1994;Kensicki, 2001). These events have influenced the number of Deaf actors, depictions of deafness, and the focus of media storylines on d/Deafness and hearing loss.…”

“…People with hearing aids are largely absent from media, with the exception of hearing advertisements, which promote the invisibility of the product (Burkey, 2003). News stories occasionally address noise-induced hearing loss, but mostly ignore the issue, instead focusing attention on cochlear implant debates and other controversies with the Deaf community (Batinovich, 2010;Kensicki, 2001;Kincheloe, 2010). It is assumed then that entertainment media would perpetuate similar messages.…”

“…Their 7-day rally was successful, as the Board of Trustees replaced the hearing president with I. King Jordan, becoming the first Deaf president(Kensicki, 2001).Downloaded by [Newcastle University] at 12:03 20 December 2014 (DE)STIGMATIZING HEARING LOSS…”

Virtual protest with tangible effects? Some observations on the media strategies of the 2007 Pakistani anti-Emergency movement

“…14 But while some limited parts of the population were touched by the organisation of flash protests via mobile phones, the effects of the interaction with new communication media by the educated classes both as consumers and as actors not only helped the protests, but for the very participants opened up ways of thinking, strategies of self-identification, self-projection, and even may be said to have created the movement rather than only assisting its development (Bolognani 2011). Once unfolded, the events were supported by pre-existing modes of resistance (such as long marches across the country), now sustained by the psychological strength of having the media behind them (according to Kensicki 2001, one of the most important aspects of participation in protest movements). New media facilitated new knowledge and networks, as well as the form of social protest.…”

How is �hearing loss� and �hearing aid(s)� represented in the United States newspaper media? (Preprint)

“…There is some literature on how the deaf population is represented in the media [16,17]. Some recent literature also focuses on newspapers' representation of workers with hearing loss [18], and the use of social media in the hearing aid community [19].…”