How Events Enter the Public Sphere: Conflict, Location, and Sponsorship in Local Newspaper Coverage of Public Events
Abstract
Protest events occur against the backdrop of public life. Of 382 public events in police records for one year in a small U.S. city, 45% convey a message, 14% involve social conflict, and 13% are standard protest event forms. Local newspapers covered 32% of all events, favoring events that were large, involved conflict, were sponsored by business groups, and occurred in central locations. The more liberal paper also favored rallies and events sponsored by national social movement organizations (SMOs) or recreational groups. Discussion centers on the ways these factors shape the content of the public sphere.
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Disruptive and conflict-ridden protests garner more attention.
“Disruptive and conflict-ridden protests garner more attention (McCarthy, McPhail, and Smith 1996; Oliver and Meyer 1999)”
From WHEN BLACK MOVEMENTS MATTER: CONTROLLING IMAGES AND BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTESTS IN MEDIA ATTENTION TO U.S. POLICE KILLINGS (2024) · cites this paper as Oliver and Meyer 1999
Protest proximity drives media attention.
“I employ two measurements of BLM protests because protest proximity drives media attention (Oliver and Meyer 1999; Rafail, McCarthy, and Sullivan 2019).”
From WHEN BLACK MOVEMENTS MATTER: CONTROLLING IMAGES AND BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTESTS IN MEDIA ATTENTION TO U.S. POLICE KILLINGS (2024) · cites this paper as Oliver and Meyer 1999
Cites
Tactical Innovation and the Pace of Insurgency
McAdam, D. (1983) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/2095322 · Cited by 1,016 · see citing works
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State Repression and Political Order
Davenport, C. (2007) · Annual Review of Political Science · doi:10.1146/annurev.polisci.10.101405.143216 · Cited by 1,564 · see citing works
Smith, J., McCarthy, J. D., McPhail, C., & Augustyn, B. (2001) · Social Forces · doi:10.1353/sof.2001.0053 · Cited by 396 · see citing works
The Organizational Structure of Local Environmentalism
Andrews, K., & Edwards, B. (2005) · Mobilization: An International Quarterly · doi:10.17813/maiq.10.2.028028u600744073 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Contemporary Social Movements in a Hybrid Media Environment
Caren, N., Andrews, K. T., & Lu, T. (2020) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-121919-054627 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
News media and the racialization of protest: an analysis of Black Lives Matter articles
Leopold, J., & Bell, M. P. (2017) · Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal · doi:10.1108/edi-01-2017-0010 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
An Empirical Validation of Malicious Insider Characteristics
Liang, N. (., Biros, D. P., & Luse, A. (2016) · Journal of Management Information Systems · doi:10.1080/07421222.2016.1205925 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Oliver, P. E., & Meyer, D. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of Notre Dame (US)
- ORCID
- Oliver, Pamela E.
- Venue
- American Journal of Sociology
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 1999-07
- Volume
- 105
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 38-87
- ISSN
- 0002-9602 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5390
- OpenAlex
- W2032173475
- Cited by
- 475
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 57.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Sociology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media Studies and Communication
- Social Sciences › Communication › Journalism and Media Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Discourse and Social Analysis
- Keywords
- public events, protest events, local newspaper coverage, public sphere, social conflict, event sponsorship, event location, social movement organizations
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