Participation and Media| Contentious Responses to the Crises in Spain: Emphasis Frames and Public Support for Protest on Twitter and the Press

Authors

  • Camilo Cristancho Universitat de Barcelona
  • Eva Anduiza Political Science Professor Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
  • Mariluz Congosto Research Fellow Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
  • Silvia Majo-Vazquez University of Oxford, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

Keywords:

protest, attitudes, news media, social networks, Twitter, contentious politics

Abstract

This research analyzes how different types of frames adopted by news organizations and social media affected the support for protests against austerity measures in Spain. We pay special attention to the individual understandings of the crises based on materialistic grievances and nonmaterialistic accounts of the economic crises. We identified frames using a supervised approach and a data set of 2 million tweets gathered during the major demonstrations of the Indignados Movement between 2011 and 2013. Our second data set included the news-related content published by the top Spanish newspapers, in terms of circulation, during those demonstrations. We found that support for antiausterity protests was conditioned by understandings of the crisis. Frames addressing the political system were negatively related to the support for protests against austerity measures, as compared with those referring to the crisis as an economic matter. In addition, more challenging and controversial frames generated lower acceptance of the protests among the population than those that primed social problems.

Author Biographies

Camilo Cristancho, Universitat de Barcelona

Camilo Cristancho Juan de la Cierva Post-Doc Researcher in Political Science Universitat de Barcelona

Eva Anduiza, Political Science Professor Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Professor

Mariluz Congosto, Research Fellow Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Research FellowUniversidad Carlos III de Madrid

Silvia Majo-Vazquez, University of Oxford, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

Research Fellow Digital News Project Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism University of Oxford  13 Norham Gardens  Oxford, OX2 6PS United Kingdom

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Published

2020-06-06

Issue

Section

Special Sections