From Interpretation to Identity Production: Extending Moral Framing Networks in the Digital Public Sphere

• In Event: Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 5. Boundaries & Crime

Abstract

The 2026 Super Bowl halftime show led by Bad Bunny marked the first time a headlining performance was delivered primarily in Spanish in the United States, generating polarized reactions in a U.S. political climate shaped by anti-immigrant rhetoric and deportation policies. This paper asks: How did Moral Framing Networks (Flores-Yeffal & Elkins, 2020) shape public interpretations of the halftime show, and how did these interpretations vary across and within political and ethnic communities? Using netnography and qualitative content analysis of 180 videos and posts across major social media platforms preliminary findings identify distinct moral framing clusters organized around immigration, colonialism, Puerto Rican political status, linguistic nationalism, patriotism, and competing definitions of American identity. Preliminary findings reveal not only polarization across partisan groups but also cross-ethnic variation within similar political camps, demonstrating internal heterogeneity within Moral Framing Networks. The paper attempts to extend Moral Framing Networks theory in three ways: (1) by arguing that such networks actively produce identity consolidation and moral boundary intensification during high-visibility media events; (2) by demonstrating internal variation within partisan networks; and (3) by conceptualizing Moral Framing Networks as dynamic and event-responsive rather than static interpretive enclaves. The halftime show of Benito (or Bad Bunny) thus functioned as a mediated arena in which competing visions of nationhood and belonging were morally negotiated in the digital public sphere.

Author

• Nadia Y. Flores-Yeffal, Texas Tech University