부산대학교 도서관

Research on news coverage of social protest has yielded evidence of a "protest paradigm," a framework of common news attributes that contribute to the marginalizing of protesters as as social deviants. Past research has shown that the application of the protest paradigm varies according to the nature of the group's goals. Adherence to the protest paradigm may also vary in response to the characteristics of the community in which media messages are produced. The structural pluralism research of Tichenor, Donohue and Olien suggests that community structure can affect news coverage of social conflict, which might be extended to include adherence to the protest paradigm, as smaller, homogenous communities exhibit less tolerance for social conflict than larger, heterogeneous communities. This research analyzes content of protest articles, comparing coverage in large, mid-sized and small daily newspapers, and weekly newspapers. Results show smaller daily newspapers avoided or minimized protest stories, while large newspapers depicted more radical protest goals, were less critical of protests targeting local governments and quoted protesters more often. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]