University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn Doctoral Dissertations University of Connecticut Graduate School 11-29-2017 Social Movements and Mainstream Media: Framing Processes in an Ideologically Segmented TV News Field Malaena J. Taylor University of Connecticut, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation Taylor, Malaena J., "Social Movements and Mainstream Media: Framing Processes in an Ideologically Segmented TV News Field" (2017). Doctoral Dissertations. 1648. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations/1648 Social Movements and Mainstream Media: Framing Processes in an Ideologically Segmented TV News Field Malaena Jo Taylor, PhD University of Connecticut, 2017 Abstract This dissertation examines television news coverage of the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movements. Theories regarding the relationship between media and social movements are mostly based on outdated models of media and journalistic norms. In addition, the literature on framing is underdeveloped in that it has focused on the process of creating frames and the implications of collective action framing; less is known about the process of frame usage in non- print media. My dissertation addresses these two problems. I develop the partisan media paradigm, an improved framework for understanding media coverage of social movements, by reformulating a dominant theory of media protest coverage, the protest paradigm, to account for the realities of today’s ideologically segmented media landscape. I contribute to the under- theorized area of framing by conceptualizing frames as gateways and identifying trajectories frames can take in mass media discourse. This research is important for three main reasons: a) it contributes to knowledge across the disciplines of sociology, political science, and communications studies; b) it compares a right-wing and a left-wing movement to help explain how for-profit media’s adherence to the status quo bounds the mainstream news field with hegemonic limits that confine political discourse at both ends of the right-left spectrum; and c) it provides important insights into the process of media framing for other types of political and cultural discourse, beyond that of social movements. Social Movements and Mainstream Media: Framing Processes in an Ideologically Segmented TV News Field Malaena Jo Taylor B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara, 2009 M.A., University of Connecticut, 2011 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut 2017 Copyright by Malaena Jo Taylor © 2017 i i APPROVAL PAGE Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Social Movements and Mainstream Media: Framing Processes in an Ideologically Segmented TV News Field Presented by Malaena Jo Taylor, B.A., M.A. Major Advisor ___________________________________________________________________ Mary Bernstein Associate Advisor ___________________________________________________________________ Nancy A. Naples Associate Advisor ___________________________________________________________________ Davita Silfen Glasberg Associate Advisor ___________________________________________________________________ Jeremy Pais Associate Advisor ___________________________________________________________________ Ruth Braunstein University of Connecticut 2017 iii Acknowledgments I started my college career in the fall of 1997, and I am ending it exactly 20 years later, in 2017. Several people deserve my heartfelt thanks. First, I thank my wife, Rebecca Barton, who left the beaches of California for the forests of Connecticut, moving across the country with me to support my dream of earning a PhD. The past eleven years have been tumultuous at times, but have been the best eleven years of my life. Thank you for making them great. Thanks to my family—especially my mother, Maureen Attebury, who raised me and my siblings on a working-class wage and food stamps. I watched you work nights and attend college classes during the day, and I brought the same work ethic to my adult life. I have virtually no student loan debt because I worked full-time nearly the entire time I spent in academia. It was difficult, but worth it. To echo the kid in the early 90s anti-drug commercial, “I learned it from watching you!” Thanks to my dear friends and colleagues, Ruth Hernandez and Trisha Tiamzon. Having two people to hold me accountable for sitting down and writing this dissertation every day for the past two years was immensely helpful. I don’t know if I would have finished without your support and encouragement. Thanks to my committee and professors at UConn. To Mary Bernstein, my advisor, for devoting so much time and energy to my development as a scholar, for supporting my vision for this dissertation, for helping me to see the connections and gaps between sociological theories and my sometimes vague ideas, and for having faith in my abilities. To Nancy Naples, for supporting and encouraging my research, and for always managing to find work for me during the summers and semesters when funding was hard to come by. To Davita Silfen Glasberg, for making theories of the state understandable and interesting, and for pushing me to speak up in seminars when I would much rather have kept all my thoughts inside my own head. To Jeremy Pais, for teaching me more than I ever thought I wanted to know about statistical analyses and iv for your no-nonsense, straightforward demeanor. While I’m on the subject of no-nonsense and straightforward: thanks to Gaye Tuchman for encouraging my research on the news and for being tough, but not too tough, during my oral qualifying exam in 2012. I’m still not sure how I passed that. And finally, thanks to Ruth Braunstein for going out of your way to support my research, for bringing me on as co-author for a project, and for being a great example of a junior faculty member with a fantastic work ethic and positive outlook on academia. Thanks to Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, and Randi Rhodes for speaking truth to power and sparking my interest in politics at a time when I was content being apathetic. Your radio shows were responsible for my leaving a decent job in engineering to pursue a PhD in sociology. Thanks for saving my soul from the heartless, corporate grip of the defense contractor to which I used to sell my labor. Thanks to Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob for creating a society that helps me live life on life’s terms and gives me the support network I need to deal with life one day at a time. I have learned more valuable lessons from the people in the rooms in California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts than graduate school could ever offer. Thanks to whoever invented reality television for giving me endless hours of entertainment when my brain needed a break. Watching 25 seasons of Survivor over the course of 5 months is not something most sane people would brag about, but it got me through gathering and organizing over eleven thousand television news transcripts. This dissertation will always be tied to Survivor for me. Finally, thanks to my adorable cats, Frank and Bean, for all their support and snuggles. They made all the weekends I spent at my computer a little easier (and sometimes more difficult, when they decided to sit on the computer keyboard instead of my lap). v Table of Contents List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... ix List of Images ................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................1 The Tea Party Movement...............................................................................................3 The Occupy Wall Street Movement ..............................................................................8 Comparison and Relationship with Media ...................................................................11 Significance of the Study .............................................................................................15 Definitions....................................................................................................................16 Chapter Outlines ..........................................................................................................22 Chapter 2. Theoretical Framework: Media as Political Institution ....................................25 News Media as Political Institution .............................................................................26 Social Movements and the News .................................................................................39 The Protest Paradigm ...................................................................................................45 Framing ........................................................................................................................51 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................56 Chapter 3. TV News Coverage of Social Movements Over Time ....................................59 Data .........................................................................................................................61