New Media, New Role: Abortion, Polarization, and Social Movements in the Internet Age

• In Event: 2483 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 01. Digital and Online Movements

Abstract

The role of news media in social movements is a well-documented topic: movement activists use news media to influence voters, shape public discourse and the narrative around a movement, and to mobilize resources. Less is known about how the Internet has changed that role or the interaction between news media organizations themselves. This article examines the network of news media, pro-, and anti-abortion activists during and following the 2016 U.S. Presidential election cycle to determine whether and how the role of news media in social movements has changed in an age of increased polarization and online media. Using abortion discourse as a case study, I used Media Cloud, a searchable big data platform that gathers data from over 550 million stories from 50,000 online sources, to conduct an analysis of the online conversation about abortion based on keyword selection. In all, 5,354 media sources published 113,681 stories or pages mentioning abortion between January 1, 2016 and April 10, 2017. The link economy and network structure of this topic shows that the role of the mainstream media in abortion social movement activism has changed; rather than between activists and the voting public, news media connects allied groups who speak primarily to like-minded audiences. News media organizations are both objects and participants in these ideological communities, sending social signals sent in their own link patterns to build and maintain a desired audience. Social media often play the role news media once did, mobilizing resources and hosting debate.

Author

• Rebekah Getman, Northeastern University