Media Framing of Movement Protest: The Case of American Indian Protest

This short article is a media analysis of a one major network's coverage of the American Indian protests during the late 1960s and early 1970s that eventually culminated in the standoff at Wounded Knee in 1973 following the shooting deaths of two FBI agents. This protest is identified as a part of a social movement and the author looks specifically at the coverage afforded to the American Indian Movement (AMI), a social movement organisation (SMO). The author examines how the media portrayed this activity using a constructionist framework that demonstrates how each news clip contains several recurring frames of reference towards the actors involved. These frames can be positive or negative and reflect strongly on public opinion about a particular movement's aims, objectives and tactics. The conclusion is that while SMOs are largely dependent on media organisations for coverage of their issues, the coverage can be damaging and difficult to control, and organisations should be "wary" of the contact they make with the media.

The author's article is rooted in Gamson's constructionist model of media/public relations and examines how both the media and the public possess the same cultural "scripts" or "frames" that guide understanding about issues and events. These frames "define and give meaning to social and political phenomenon. Thus, media agents will use frames that are familiar and resonate with both themselves and the public." Social movements are reliant on the media to communicate their goals but they may have difficulty in controlling how their statements or action are placed inside frames. They may also have difficulty in controlling the implicit content of those frames. In addition, social movements must recognise that their message is interpreted through the biases of the media; which include class bias between social movement actors and media owners, commercialisation and the dependence of media on ratings and advertising revenues, and the routine nature of news-gathering and reliance on wire services that make it difficult for organisations to develop personal contacts with the media.

The author's study involves an analysis of the news segments produced and aired by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) between 1968-1979 that were drawn from the Vanderbilt Television News Archive. The author was able to identify a total of 52 segments longer than 1 minute in length that made reference to Indian related events during the time period under examination. After reviewing the segments the author constructed a set of frames with which to categorise the meanings of the segments. These frames include: Militant, those clips that focused on violence or law-breaking aspects. This frame occurred in 90% of the total segments analysed. Stereotype, those segments that included "any fastening of attention on stereotypical artefacts, actions, or characterisations of Indians … pictures of singing, dancing, the peace pipe, tepees…" The author notes that this frame occurred in 48% of the segments and while it may produce some "sympathy" from the public, it generally obscured an understanding of the issues at hand. Another negative frame was the Factionalism frame, which focused on the divisions amongst the group and worked to isolate AIM. 44% of segments used this frame. The first of the positive frames is the Civil Rights frame, which was the second most common at 56%, and focuses on social and economic issues like the housing, education, and health care problems of the Indians in the area. These concerns were the driving force behind the protests but the movement was only marginally successful in getting these issues to the forefront of media coverage. The Treaty Rights frame was the least used, occurring in only 17% of the segments even though protestors repeatedly cited this as a partial basis for their actions.

The author then extends his analysis to looking at how the frames were combined within each of the segments and suggests that the negative images override the message that the movement was hoping to get across. For example, in 84% of the segments that use the Treaty Rights or Civil Rights frame, the Militant frame also occurred. The author also provides an analysis of how the division between frames changed during the course of events, and how the militancy aspect became completely dominant during the Wounded Knee siege and continued to dominate long after the event.

The results of this case study lead the author to believe that there are, "serious questions regarding the efficacy of engaging in direct action protest to gain media attention." Television news teams never had any serious intention of trying to understand the Indian movement and focused their coverage on events that were accompanied by violence and conflict as opposed to constructive events like the "International Treaty Convention" that took place at Standing Rock Sioux in 1974. The author also believes that the media used the frames with which they had the most familiarity, and those that were most easily absorbed by the public at large, hence the focus on popular stereotypes over more complex issues like treaty rights. Thirdly, the frames used by the media did not advance the protestor's cause in any appreciable way, and in all likelihood, hindered their efforts at having their complaints given proper consideration. Furthermore, the coverage was incomplete. For example, violence directed towards movement activists was not given any press even though there were 61 deaths from 1973 and 1976 on the Pine Ridge reserve. Yet the death of two FBI agents drew mass attention, suggesting that the coverage of violence was "selective." The author draws some parallels with this experience to that of the Black Panther Party. The author notes that the greatest difficulty for social movements is competing against other news events, and it is noted that many of the events taking place occurred whilst the Vietnam War was underway and during the Watergate scandal.

The author concludes with several observations. The first is that violent tactics will rarely draw media support because they will largely be reported without the necessary accompanying context that is required to make sense of such events. It is therefore risky for a SMO to stage such actions, especially if they are trying to break out of a pre-established cultural framework or stereotype. The author also believes that most SMOs are not capable of controlling media representation and that a "distorted and incomplete picture of a movement's message and goals will result form media coverage." The conclusion is one of caution towards the media.