Media, Movements, and Mobilization: Tea Party Protests in the United States, 2009–2010

Abstract

What is the relationship between a social movement and the media coverage it receives? Using data on the Tea Party and supplementing it with a broad dataset of coverage in nearly 200 state and local newspapers over an 18-month period, I address key questions on the recursive relationship between media coverage and mobilization. Results provide support for the mobilizing influence of the media. Instead of following protest activity as post-facto news, coverage tended to precede mobilization and was its most important predictor. Second, the conservative media occupied a distinct and indirect position in impacting mobilization. Though not direct predictors of mobilization, conservative media coverage was a strong predictor of subsequent coverage in the broader media. Further, this influence was asymmetrical, with the general media having no impact on conservative media. Finally, results suggest that the conservative frame of “liberal media bias” enabled a unique mobilizing effect where negative coverage in the broader media increased mobilization. These findings shed light on the dynamic relationship between movements, protests, and the media, and that of conservative movements in particular.

Citation

Banerjee, T. (2013), "Media, Movements, and Mobilization: Tea Party Protests in the United States, 2009–2010", Coy, P.G. (Ed.) Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change (Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Vol. 36), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 39-75. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-786X(2013)0000036005