Framing Black Lives Matter: The Impact of Partisan News on Reader Attitudes

• In Event: Racial Justice

Abstract

Following the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, protesters flooded American streets demanding change to the American policing system. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement meaningfully fueled these demands for social justice into pressure on lawmakers, police departments, and citizens to recognize the impact of racism at all levels of the criminal justice system. However, media coverage of these demonstrations lacked consensus regarding the organization’s mission and ranged from describing participants as “peaceful protestors” to a “violent mob.” Drawing on framing theory, this paper presents the results of an experiment measuring the effects of such framed news coverage on readers’ support for the BLM movement, political efficacy, and racial attitudes.

First, we utilized computational methods to perform a content analysis of BLM protest coverage (N = 4,045) published between May 26, 2020 to June 5, 2020 to identify terms used distinctly by conservative or liberal media sources. Based on these results, we developed news article stimuli referring to BLM demonstration participants as a “violent mob” (conservative framing), “peaceful” protestors engaging in “solidarity” (liberal framing), or a neutral framing that lacks either set of terminology.

Next, we conducted a survey experiment measuring the effects of exposure to this ideologically framed news on respondents’ attitudes and efficacy. We measured effects on support for the BLM movement as well as policies that dismantle racism ingrained in the criminal justice system, including the demilitarization of the police. Next, we determined whether the framing had an effect on readers’ internal and external political efficacy, or perceived capacity to participate and be heard in politics, and whether this varies by respondents’ race. Finally, we examined the implications of framed BLM news on racial resentment and stereotype endorsement.

The results of this experiment will build upon previous research examining the effects of news exposure on support for the BLM movement (see Kilgo & Mourão, 2019). Determining relationships between news exposure and policy support demonstrates not only how the news can hinder the goals of the BLM movement, but also how portrayals of the movement are integral towards racial progress in the United States. News frames delegitimizing the BLM movement that impact political efficacy or racial attitudes may prove consequential in the electorate’s voting behavior (see Drakulich et al., 2020). Research indicates that racial resentment towards African Americans drives polarization between Republicans and Democrats (Valentino & Zhirkov, 2017), as well as voting behavior among White Americans (Reny et al., 2019). Our experiment will ascertain the potential role of BLM news coverage in fostering political fragmentation.

Authors

• Marisa A. Smith, Michigan State University

• Katherine Haenschen, Northeastern University