Thirteenth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of March for Our Lives (MFOL) on national conversations about, and/or coverage of gun safety legislation in two national print media outlets, and one local print media outlet, following numerous murders across American schools, including Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) High School. In February 2018, MSD High School students ignited a major Twitter campaign, which challenged existing debates around gun safety legislation aimed at and beyond American Schools. MSD teenagers used Twitter as a central online space for mobilization and named this space “Never Again” or #NeverAgain and #MarchForOurLives.Gun safety legislation was one aspect of a broader American national conversation addressed by MFOL. This paper is important because among other things, MFOL established a significant movement for democratic change and tightening gun safety legislation. This followed the “curious absence” of a popular movement for gun control after mass shootings at Virginia Tech University and Sandy Hook. The research upon which this paper is founded continues to be of importance, as confronting the daily problem of gun violence “remains overlooked” across American print media. MFOL has been credited for influencing public opinion, and galvanizing support for gun control legislative achievement. This paper investigates MFOL discourse in American print publications in relation to achieving stricter gun safety legislation in the United States, using a media studies-oriented researching technique called framing analysis, first implemented by Todd Gitlin in his book The Whole World is Watching: Mass Media and the Making and Unmaking of the New Left.