Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2018
Keywords
hashtag activism, online social movements, #BringBackOurGirls, qualitative framing analysis, Twitter activism, media framing and hashtags, Chibok girls
Abstract
Researchers have argued that social media such as Twitter redistribute news media’s power over how issues are framed to scattered networks of activists and citizens. But what happens when an online campaign such as #BringBackOurGirls against Boko Haram’s kidnapping of Nigerian schoolgirls garners global media coverage? Using qualitative frame analysis, this study assesses how news media in Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States framed the #BBOG activism campaign and finds key differences in news coverage. Despite Twitter’s potential for “networked framing” and diffusing news media’s power over discourses, the differential framing and localization of #BBOG in the United Kingdom and the United States vis-à-vis Nigeria demonstrates how institutional norms, local politics, and contextual realities can constrain social media activists’ preferred framing of important issues. Thus, despite Twitter’s promise for activism, online activists need to grapple with ways to maintain control over their issue discourses in the Twittersphere locally and (especially) internationally. We provide some recommendations on how to do this.
Publication Title
International Journal of Communication
Volume
12
First Page
2480
Last Page
2502
Recommended Citation
Ofori-Parku, S. S., & Moscato, D. (2018). Hashtag Activism as a Form of Political Action: A Qualitative Analysis of the# BringBackOurGirls Campaign in Nigerian, UK, and US Press. International Journal of Communication, 12, 23.
Subjects - Topical (LCSH)
Internet and activism; Social media and journalism; Hashtags (Metadata)--Political aspects; Kidnapping victims--Nigeria
Subjects - Names (LCNAF)
Boko Haram
Geographic Coverage
Nigeria
Genre/Form
articles
Type
Text
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
