The Battle for #Baltimore: Networked Counterpublics and the Contested Framing of Urban Unrest

• In Event: Can You Hear Me Now? Marginalized Voices on Social Media

Abstract

Building on the growing body of research that suggests Twitter has become a key resource for networked counterpublics to frame discourse about racism and policing in the United States, we explore how the contested online network of tweets about the April 2015 protests in Baltimore, Maryland reflect larger socio-political battles over how conflict and protest about race is understood in mainstream America. Despite claims that online communication can result in polarized echo chambers, we find that even within this highly polarized debate, progressive counterpublic frames advanced by members of marginalized communities found widespread support on Twitter. Progressive racial justice messages were spread, in part, by brokers who worked across polarized sub-communities in the network to build mutual understanding and model effective strategies for reconciling disparate accounts of protest events.  

Authors

• Brooke Foucault Welles, Northeastern University

• Sarah Janel Jackson, Northeastern University