Globalization and Media: The Framing of a Global Movement - The PGA
(People's Global Action)
Alonit Berenson
Bar Illan University
Abstract: This study examines the portrayal of the People Global Action (PGA) in the mainstream
print media focusing on the events surrounding the protests at the Seattle World Trade Organization
(WTO) meeting in 1999. The PGA is a movement that organizes through the Internet sharing global
values - agenda-setting, and managing the protest strategy against globalization - as a key to collective
action. This analysis uses "framing" theory which focuses on the manner in which the media organizes
and explains events and issues. The framework and symbols used to portray an event can add meaning
to and alter perceptions of social events. Put differently, framing is a cognitive structure consisting of
organized knowledge about situation. Previous research has shown that the type of frame used to
present a situation or event can significantly alter the reactions to events.
The results show that there newspapers which are published in countries operating within capitalistic
economic policies framed these events differently than those in countries operating within social-
democratic economic policies.
Introduction
The study applies the process model of framing--including the production, content,
and media use perspectives—to understand portrayals in the print media of global
protest movements in the globalization era, specifically those at the 1999 WTO
meeting in Seattle. Research into the framing within the coverage of social
movements and the role of the newspapers in reshaping attempts, stands at a juncture.
One influential way that the media may shape public opinion is by framing events and
issues in particular way. Journalists routinely fail to provide the larger context behind
protests and cover them merely as news about disorder and violence .The organizing
concept can be considered a bias which can distort or even falsify reality. Properly
defined and measured, slant and bias provide insights into how the media influence
the distribution of power: Who gets what, when and how. Most previous studies of
framing have focused on either content or framing effects. This study argues that
becoming aware of different types of frames is necessary to understand when and
how different frames are at work.
This study proceeds as follows. First it examines the context of the protests
including globalization, the genesis and nature of global movements. Second it
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