Eleventh Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Any social movement against a perceived threat wants public support so that their claims to the dominant position to alleviate the threat are taken seriously. In order to garner public support, the threat has to be presented in a public setting, like the mass media. When we think about the role of mass media in social movements, we broadly mean: first, media representation of the threat or grievance that is central to the movement; secondly, whether the media has given the movement a ‘standing’ by treating it as an agent and not a passive object. Thirdly, whether the representation of the movement in the media—intentionally or unintentionally—influenced the way the movement paved its way to create public opinion to ameliorate the threat. One example, Save Sundarbans movement - from Bangladesh exposed the role of media coverage on the movements. I argue that both old and new media served as stages showcasing contested meanings of ‘development’, and ‘environmental justice’. Using Steinberg’s (1999) dialogic framing model, I demonstrate the qualitative process of meaning making in opposing a power plant near the Sundarbans. I also suggest that the meaning of the threat is shaped by the interaction between the opposing groups in the context of mass media attention or coverage. So, given the interaction between both parties, each will respond to the other’s claims and complaints to keep popular support in favour of their respective causes. Therefore, the definition of the threat will change in the process. In this age of global digital divide, media often sides with the powerful. In my case, I observed that old media (print and television) in the short term, took the side of the powerful and dominant groups (the state and the company) yet the new (social) media is messy and protestors can create a space for their claims but their traction is transient and can be controlled by strong state control. Moreover, old media also changes its inclination during periods of violence and presence of high intensity actors in the movement space.