Media and Social Movements

Abstract

Abstract Mass media refer to any medium used to diffuse mass communication. Generally speaking, mass media include eight mediums: radio, television, newspapers, magazines, books, recordings, movies, and the Internet. Mass media are relevant to the study of social movements because they carry movement ideas to a broad audience and give activists leverage in institutional and political processes. More specifically, mass media are important to social movements because they legitimate movement issues, provide social movements an opportunity to shape public understandings of political problems, and mobilize a broader public to action. Mass media coverage legitimates movement issues and claims. News media, for instance, set the public agenda by, first, choosing what events and social problems are relevant to the citizenry and, then, focusing public attention on these events and problems. Media coverage of social movement ideas and organizations is legitimizing because it indicates to the broader public that a movement represents credible claims. A publication of a book can have a similar affect. Ralph Nader's book, Unsafe at Any Speed, exposed the reluctance of car manufacturers to spend money on safety features (such as seat belts) and supported Nader's efforts to mobilize a consumer rights movement. Mass media offer frameworks for understanding the causes of and solutions to political problems (Gamson 1992; Benford & Snow 2000). Social movements, then, that garner media attention have an opportunity to shape public perceptions of political problems and affect broader debate. Mass media can also mobilize a broader population to action. Social movement frameworks disseminated via mass media identify motivations for and targets of collective action. For example, radio played an important role in strike campaigns of textile workers between 1929 and 1934. Music broadcast throughout the South articulated the concerns of textile workers (such as low wages and family subsistence) and identified the root causes of these problems (i.e., exploitative owners and domineering managers). This music and Franklin Roosevelt's “Fireside Chats,” which indicated support for industrial workers and improved working conditions, helped mobilize workers (Roscigno & Danaher 2001).