The Battle for #Baltimore: Networked Counterpublics and the Contested Framing of Urban Unrest

Authors

  • Brooke Foucault Welles Northeastern University
  • Sarah J. Jackson Northeastern University

Keywords:

social media, online activism, networked counterpublics, framing, social network analysis, mixed methods, Baltimore

Abstract

A growing body of research suggests that Twitter has become a key resource for networked counterpublics to intervene in popular discourse about racism and policing in the United States. At the same time, claims that online communication necessarily results in polarized echo chambers are common. In response to these seemingly contrary impulses in communication research, we explore how the contested online network comprised of tweets about the April 2015 protests in Baltimore, Maryland, evolved as users constructed meaning and debated questions of protest and race. We find that even within this highly polarized debate, counterpublic frames found widespread support on Twitter. Progressive racial justice messages were advanced, in part, by brokers who worked across polarized subcommunities in the network to build mutual understanding and model effective strategies for reconciling disparate accounts of protest events.

Author Biographies

Brooke Foucault Welles, Northeastern University

Associate ProfessorDepartment of Communication StudiesNetwork Science Institute617-373-7043

Sarah J. Jackson, Northeastern University

Associate ProfessorDepartment of Communication Studies617-373-7874

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Published

2019-04-14

Issue

Vol. 13 (2019)

Section

Articles

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