URCAD Sneak Peek: Patrick Reid

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 09:47:14 -0400

How does the media contextualize the Black Lives Matter movement to shape public understanding? Come see Patrick's URCAD presentation, "Black Lives Matter and Media Framing"!

URCAD.umbc.edu

April 19-25, 2021

Abstract

Mentor: Fernando Tormos Aponte, Political Science

After a summer of an important racial reckoning in the United States, there is an increased awareness about the consequences of media coverage and portrayals of racial dissent. The way that the media portrays protest events shapes how the public understands and perceives those events. The use of insensitive or even implicitly racist messaging among media outlets to portray racial justice events has an impact on public discourse on racial justice. This research uses articles from the Baltimore Sun’s coverage of the Baltimore Uprising of 2015 to examine media portrayals of h Freddie Gray, who died in the hands of Baltimore police, and the subsequent events of the Uprising. I use grounded theory qualitative coding techniques to identify specific framings that connote implicit biases in the media and used these to observe how the Baltimore Sun reported on the racial justice movement, specifically Black Lives Matter during this time period.

Photo credit: Devin Allen