The police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd sparked a resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests throughout the summer of 2020, reminiscent of the wave of Black Lives Matter protests that occurred after several police killings in 2014 including the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Based on qualitative analysis of mainstream media coverage of the protests, this paper examines key themes in the discourse surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014 and 2020. Our findings highlight the ways in which mainstream news sources situate the Black Lives Matter protests within a broader history of Black uprisings. We also emphasize the erasure of violence against Black women in mainstream media depictions of the BLM movement, as well as the erasure of Black women’s leadership in the movement.
AmentaEdwinElliottThomas AlanShorttNicoleTierneyAmber CTürkoğluDidemVannBurrelJr. 2019. “Making Good News: What Explains the Quality of Coverage of the Civil Rights Movement.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly24(1):19–37.
2.
AmentaEdwinGardnerBeth GharrityTierneyAmber CelinaYerenaAnaidElliottThomas Alan. 2012. “A Story-Centered Approach to the Newspaper Coverage of High-Profile SMOs.” Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change33(1):83–107.
3.
AndrewsKenneth T.CarenNeal. 2010. “Making the News: Movement Organizations, Media Attention, and the Public Agenda.” American Sociological Review75(6):841–66.
4.
BenfordRobert D.SnowDavid A.2000. “Framing Processes and Social Movements: An Overview and Assessment.” Annual Review of Sociology26:611–39. doi: 10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.611.
5.
BennettW. LanceEntmanRobert M.2000. Mediated Politics: Communication in the Future of Democracy. Cambridge University Press.
6.
Bennett-SwansonMeredith. 2017. “Media Coverage of Black Lives Matter.” 33.
BoykoffJules. 2006. “Framing Dissent: Mass-Media Coverage of the Global Justice Movement.” New Political Science28(2):201–28.
9.
BoyleMichael P.McCluskeyMichael R.DevanathanNarayanSteinSusan E.McLeodDouglas. 2004. “The Influence of Level of Deviance and Protest Type on Coverage of Social Protest in Wisconsin from 1960 to 1999.” Mass Communication & Society7(1):43–60.
10.
BrownMelissaRayRashawnSummersEdFraistatNeil. 2017. “#SayHerName: A Case Study of Intersectional Social Media Activism.” Ethnic and Racial Studies40(11):1831–46.
11.
BuchananLarryBuiQuoctrungPatelJugal K.2020. “Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History.” The New York Times, July 3.
12.
CappsKriston. 2014. “The Unprecedented Scale of the #BlackLivesMatter Protests.”
Bloomberg.Com
, December 5.
13.
CarenNealAndrewsKenneth T.LuTodd. 2020. “Contemporary Social Movements in a Hybrid Media Environment.” Annual Review of Sociology46(1):443-465.
14.
CarneyNikita. 2016. “All Lives Matter, but so Does Race: Black Lives Matter and the Evolving Role of Social Media.” Humanity & Society40(2):180–99. doi: 10.1177/0160597616643868.
15.
ChatelainMarciaAsokaKaavya. 2015. “Women and Black Lives Matter.” Dissent62(3):54–61. doi: 10.1353/dss.2015.0059.
16.
ClarkAmanda D.DantzlerPrentiss A.NickelsAshley E.2018. “Black Lives Matter: (Re)Framing the Next Wave of Black Liberation.” Pp. 145–72 in Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change. Vol. 42, edited by CoyP. G.Emerald Publishing Limited.
17.
CoombsDanielle SarverCassiloDavid. 2017. “Athletes and/or Activists: LeBron James and Black Lives Matter.” Journal of Sport and Social Issues41(5):425–44. doi: 10.1177/0193723517719665.
18.
CrenshawKimberléRitchieAndrea J.AnspachRachelGilmerRachelHarrisLuke. 2015. Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality against Black Women. African American Policy Forum, Center for Intersectionality and Social . . .
DavisAngela Y.2016. Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement. edited by BaratF.Haymarket Books.
21.
De GenovaNicholas. 2018. “The ‘Migrant Crisis’ as Racial Crisis: Do Black Lives Matter in Europe?” Ethnic and Racial Studies41(10):1765–82. doi: 10.1080/01419870.2017.1361543.
22.
DuvallTessaCostelloDarcy. 2021. “In cities and states across the US, Breonna’s Law is targeting deadly no-knock warrants.” Louisville Courier Journal. March12.
EntmanRobert M.1993. “Framing: Towards Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm.” McQuail’s Reader in Mass Communication Theory 390–97.
25.
FerreeMyra MarxGamsonWilliam AnthonyRuchtDieterGerhardsJürgen. 2002. Shaping Abortion Discourse: Democracy and the Public Sphere in Germany and the United States. Cambridge University Press.
26.
FreelonDeenMcIlwainCharlton D.ClarkMeredith. 2016. “Beyond the Hashtags:# Ferguson,# Blacklivesmatter, and the Online Struggle for Offline Justice.” Center for Media & Social Impact, American University, Forthcoming.
27.
FurmanEllisSinghAmandeep KaurDarkoNatasha A.WilsonCiann Larose. 2018. “Activism, Intersectionality, and Community Psychology: The Way in Which Black Lives Matter Toronto Helps Us to Examine White Supremacy in Canada’s LGBTQ Community.” Community Psychology in Global Perspective4(2):34–54.
28.
GabySarahCarenNeal. 2016. “The Rise of Inequality: How Social Movements Shape Discursive Fields.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly21(4):413–29.
29.
GamsonWilliam A.ModiglianiAndre. 1989. “Media Discourse and Public Opinion on Nuclear Power: A Constructionist Approach.” American Journal of Sociology95(1):1–37.
30.
GarzaAlicia. 2014. “A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement.” 4.
31.
GitlinTodd. 2003. The Whole World Is Watching: Mass Media in the Making and Unmaking of the New Left. Univ of California Press.
32.
GoldenErin. 2014. “Protesters March up Interstate to City Hall.” Star Tribune, December 5.
33.
GreeyAli. 2018. “Queer Inclusion Precludes (Black) Queer Disruption: Media Analysis of the Black Lives Matter Toronto Sit-in during Toronto Pride 2016.” Leisure Studies37(6):662–76. doi: 10.1080/02614367.2018.1468475.
34.
HopeElan C.KeelsMicereDurkeeMyles I.2016. “Participation in Black Lives Matter and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals: Modern Activism among Black and Latino College Students.” Journal of Diversity in Higher Education9(3):203–15. doi: 10.1037/dhe0000032.
35.
JarvieJennyEtehadMelissa. 2020. “Finding Themselves in a Familiar Place; Black America Is Again on Edge after George Floyd’s Slaying. ‘It’s Just a Lot to Carry.’” Los Angeles Times, May 30.
36.
Khan-CullorsPatrisseBandeleAsha. 2018. When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
37.
KilgoDanielle K.MourãoRachel R.2021. “Protest Coverage Matters: How Media Framing and Visual Communication Affects Support for Black Civil Rights Protests.” Mass Communication and Society24(4):576–96. doi: 10.1080/15205436.2021.1884724.
38.
KoopmansRuud.2004. “Movements and Media: Selection Processes and Evolutionary Dynamics in the Public Sphere.” Theory and Society33(3–4):367–91.
39.
KovachBillRosenstielTom. 1999. Warp Speed: America in the Age of Mixed Media. Twentieth Century Fund.
40.
LeopoldJoyBellMyrtle P.2017. “News Media and the Racialization of Protest: An Analysis of Black Lives Matter Articles.” Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal36(8):720–35. doi: 10.1108/EDI-01-2017-0010.
41.
LoweryWesley. 2017. They Can’t Kill Us All: The Story of Black Lives Matter. Penguin UK.
42.
McChesneyRobert W.2016. Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times. New Press.
43.
McCurdyPatrick. 2012. “Social Movements, Protest and Mainstream Media.” Sociology Compass6(3):244–55.
44.
McGuireDanielle L.2010. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance–A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. Vintage.
45.
McLeodDouglas M.2007. “News Coverage and Social Protest: How the Media’s Protect Paradigm Exacerbates Social Conflict.” Journal of Dispute Resolution2007(1):12.
46.
MundtMarciaRossKarenBurnettCharla M.2018. “Scaling Social Movements Through Social Media: The Case of Black Lives Matter.” Social Media + Society4(4):205630511880791. doi: 10.1177/2056305118807911.
47.
OrtizDavidMyersDanielWallsEugeneDiazMaria-Elena. 2005. “Where Do We Stand with Newspaper Data?” Mobilization: An International Quarterly10(3):397–419.
48.
PetermonJade D.SpencerLeland G.2019. “Black Queer Womanhood Matters: Searching for the Queer Herstory of Black Lives Matter in Television Dramas.” Critical Studies in Media Communication36(4):339–56. doi: 10.1080/15295036.2019.1607518.
49.
PhelpsMichelle S.HamiltonAmber M.2021. “Visualizing Injustice or Reifying Racism? Images in the Digital Media Coverage of the Killing of Michael Brown.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity23326492211015696. doi: 10.1177/23326492211015696.
50.
PoellThomas. 2020. “Social Media, Temporality, and the Legitimacy of Protest.” Social Movement Studies19(5–6):609–24.
51.
RansbyBarbara. 2018. Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.
52.
RitchieAndrea J.2017. Invisible No More: Police Violence against Black Women and Women of Color. Beacon Press.
53.
RohlingerDeana A.KailBenTaylorMilesConnSarrah. 2012. “Outside the Mainstream: Social Movement Organization Media Coverage in Mainstream and Partisan News Outlets.” in Media, movements, and political change. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
SmithJackieMcCarthyJohn D.McPhailClarkAugustynBoguslaw. 2001. “From Protest to Agenda Building: Description Bias in Media Coverage of Protest Events in Washington, DC.” Social Forces79(4):1397–1423.
56.
SnowDavid A.Burke RochfordE.JrWordenSteven K.BenfordRobert D.1986. “Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation.” American Sociological Review 464–81.
57.
SnowDavid A.VliegenthartRensCorrigall-BrownCatherine. 2007. “Framing the French Riots: A Comparative Study of Frame Variation.” Social Forces86(2):385–415.
58.
SobandeFrancesca. 2021. “Screening Black Lives Matter: On-Screen Discourses, Distortions, and Depictions of Black Lives Matter.” Feminist Media Studies1–4.
59.
SobierajSarah. 2011. Soundbitten: The Perils of Media-Centered Political Activism. NYU Press.
60.
Staff. 2014. “Protests Continue in Wake of Decisions Not to Indict Officers.” The Washington Post, December 6.
61.
Stanley-BeckerIsaacItkowitzColbyKornfieldMeryl. 2020. “Wave of Rage and Anguish Sweeps U.S. Cities.” The Washington Post, May 31.
62.
StaplesBrent. 2014. “Hope and Anger at the Garner Protests.” The New York Times, December 6.
63.
TaylorKeeanga-Yamahtta. 2016. From# BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation. Haymarket Books.
64.
TuminRemyWalkerElijah. 2020. “George Floyd, Hong Kong, SpaceX: Your Weekend Briefing.” The New York Times, May 31.
65.
UmamaheswarJanani. 2020. “Policing and Racial (In)Justice in the Media: Newspaper Portrayals of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ Movement.” Civic Sociology1(1):12143. doi: 10.1525/001c.12143.
66.
WattersJessica. 2017. “Pink Hats and Black Fists: The Role of Women in the Black Lives Matter Movement.” William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice24(1).
67.
WilliamsSherri. 2016. “#SayHerName: Using Digital Activism to Document Violence against Black Women.” Feminist Media Studies16(5):922–25. doi: 10.1080/14680777.2016.1213574.
68.
ZapotoskyMattStanley-BeckerIsaac. 2020. “Disease, Hardship and Outrage Add up to a ‘Tinderbox.’” The Washington Post, May 31.
