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Kirsty McLaren Australian National University Thanks to: Marian Sawer , Merrindahl Andrew, and Gillian Evans. Today’s paper: limitations of protest event analysis initial findings of the database indications about media coverage suggesting that sexism increased coverage.
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Kirsty McLaren Australian National University Thanks to: Marian Sawer, Merrindahl Andrew, and Gillian Evans
Today’s paper: • limitations of protest event analysis • initial findings of the database • indications about media coverage • suggesting that sexism increased coverage
Protest event analysis: charts media reporting, not events themselves (Koopmans and Rucht recommend caution and triangulation) Media: influenced by violence/destruction and by perceptions of which ‘issues’ are ‘on the agenda’
Women’s movement: not always public – not always ‘events’ Moreover, the notion of ‘public’ is problematic Bagguley: hypothesises about impact of gendered assumptions on media reporting and on scholar’s understandings of protest
Trends: • women’s peace movement contributed to peaks • new institutions may have supported rather than replaced social movement activity
Media coverage: • increasing awareness of women’s movement likely to have increased coverage • transgressive actions garnered coverage • women journalists’ role?
No. of events reported and no. of articles on events: SMH, 1970-1985
Reports of women’s movement protest events: past and future events SMH, 1970-1985
“Demonstration by 20 women” 16 Dec 1970 “Women’s liberation invades a hotel” 21 Nov 1970 “30 women protest” 19 Dec 1974 “12 angry women” 24 Nov 1972 “Mother is in jail” 10 Apr 1971 “Chained women in Parlt day of protests” 16 Aug 1972 “Women, children stop the rocks bulldozers” 25 Jan 1972 “… women demonstrators….” 20 Apr 1970 “… Five women held up placards…” 3 Feb 1971
Gender of journalists reporting women’s movement events (SMH)
To conclude, our data suggests that: - growing awareness of movement contributed to coverage - that transgessive tactics, subverting social norms, can garner coverage, and should be cnsidered a form of ‘disruption’ • difficult to generalise about effects of sexism (or other prejudice) in journalism Hence, need a gendered approach to protest event analysis Still to come: • comparisons of mainstream and alternative press coverage • complete analysis of institutions and protest trends kirsty.mclaren@anu.edu.au http://cass.anu.edu.au/research_projects/mawm