Partisan Media Bias in the Framing of the Parkland School Shooting and the March For Our Lives Movement




Seppälä, Mila

PublisherJournal of Mass Violence Research

2024

Journal of Mass Violence Research

Journal of Mass Violence Research

2993-3625

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.53076/JMVR53552

http://doi.org/10.53076/jmvr53552



This study examines the role of partisan media bias in the reporting of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida on February 14, 2018, and on the March For Our Lives gun control protests that followed the shooting. This study posits partisan media bias at the center of the Parkland shooting. It asks how partisan bias affected the way the media constructed narratives about the shooting and the youth activists who mobilized because of their experiences of victimization. The results show that the national media’s framing of the Parkland advocates and the tragedy itself depended on their partisan orientations. Additionally, the results indicate that there are meaningful differences in the reporting that advocates can strategically use to gain positive coverage from news media.



This work was supported by the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation.


Last updated on 2025-04-06 at 14:32