Broadcast media reshaped protest movements’ internal structure, not just their reach

Evidence

In several of the world’s most advanced capitalist countries, movements seeking political change found themselves overwhelmed by the power of radio, television, and newspaper coverage. Even when explicitly seeking to avoid mass demonstrations as their preferred tactic, they were swept up by the attention granted to them. Media coverage multiplied the effects of their actions in ways the activists had never imagined; moreover, it transformed the very structure of the movements themselves. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 61

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Global media templates shape how local protests are interpreted and copied — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 272; Brazilian television coverage, not social media, gave the protest movement mass legitimacy — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 400; Mass protests are fundamentally illegible and media coverage inevitably distorts them — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 415 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Media coverage can bestow a movement more reach than its own organizing ever could #qualifies (0.80) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 73
• Changes in demonstration form reflect deeper shifts in social movement politics #corroborates (0.78) — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 1231
• A protest’s media success can diverge from its organizers’ goals #qualifies (0.72) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 393