Net Neutrality| CAP! Comcast: The Framing and Distribution Strategies of Policy Advocates Within Networked Communications

Authors

  • Gino Canella University of Colorado - Boulder

Keywords:

media policy, framing, social movements, social media, networked communications, net neutrality

Abstract

This article presents a case study of the CAP! Comcast campaign produced and distributed by the Media Mobilizing Project (MMP) in Philadelphia. The framing and distribution strategies of this campaign, which fought for and won concessions from Comcast during the 2015 franchise negotiation with the city, are analyzed to foreground the labor of policy advocates working within networked communications. The author complicates the often-celebrated potential of social movements that use digital technologies and social media by detailing the multifaceted frame-setting and distribution tactics employed by MMP organizers throughout this campaign. Rather than analyze what frames the news media applies to SMOs, this article reviews how activists developed campaign messages, through media, that challenged existing narratives. Understanding the political and socioeconomic conditions that underlie the work of social movements is necessary for a review of the messaging, organizing, and relationship-building efforts of activists working toward meaningful media policy reform.

Author Biography

Gino Canella, University of Colorado - Boulder

Gino Canella is a doctoral student of Media Studies in the College of Media, Communication and Information at the University of Colorado - Boulder. His research focuses on social movements and advocacy documentary filmmaking.

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Published

2016-11-08

Issue

Vol. 10 (2016)

Section

Special Sections

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