Participation and Media| Dominant and Emerging News Frames in Protest Coverage: The 2013 Cypriot Anti-Austerity Protests in National Media

Abstract

Research on news coverage of protests has revealed evidence of a protest paradigm: framing strategies that disparage protestors and diminish protest claims and significance. However, recent studies are detecting less predictable media responses, indicating the need to identify the extent of application of the paradigm and the underlying determinants for variations within media politics of dissent. This analysis of the framing of the 2013 Cypriot anti-austerity protests by three national newspapers and a public television channel indicated that the coverage deviated from the protest thesis. The results showed little emphasis on the law and (dis)order frame but validation of the protests in varying magnitudes through frames articulating national sovereignty, social injustice, and acceptance of austerity policies, wavering between blaming international and national political actors for irresponsible politics. Finally, this article examines the conditions under which news media relax some conventions of reporting protests, permitting more constructive coverage of social conflicts.