Syracuse University SURFACE Theses - ALL May 2014 Starved for Information: The Conflict between Mobilizing Hunger Strikes and Distracting Media Frames Alicia Wright Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/thesis Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Wright, Alicia, "Starved for Information: The Conflict between Mobilizing Hunger Strikes and Distracting Media Frames" (2014). Theses - ALL. 46. https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/46 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses - ALL by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Abstract: This study considers the newspaper coverage of Irom Sharmila's on-going, 13-year hunger strike in India to question how information from the media plays a role in generation of social movement conflict. With specific attention paid to the cultural context and method of protest, the study applies theories of conflict, social movement planning, and framing to examine whether the hunger strike elicits coverage that includes salient frames generated by the movement. Such coverage could signify a potential shift in the protest paradigm applied to English-language newspapers in India. Through a quantitative content analysis, articles pertaining to Irom Sharmila's hunger strike against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act were coded for conflict variables of stage and constructiveness; social movement frames of diagnosis, prognosis, and motivation; and political opportunity measures of access, party alignment, elite tension, and allies. Furthermore, this study aimed to compare the English-language press of several regions of India at the local and national level.