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THE WHOLE WORLD IS SWEATING
Newspaper Framing of the Student Anti-Sweatshop Movement
Abstract
This paper examines the national newspaper coverage of the student anti-
sweatshop movement on university campuses. Using coverage of this issue in three
national dailies, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post,
from 1995-2002, this paper explores the dominant frames used to tell this story and
attempts to understand the positive representation of the student activists by the news
media. This positive media attention contrasts with dominant theories about the
relationship between social movements and the news media. The implications of this
contrasting case for other ongoing social movements are considered.
Universities have long been sites of social protest, often drawing attention to the
leading edge of social concerns. From the civil rights demonstrations of the 1950s and
60s, to the anti-war activism of the 60s and 70s, the anti-apartheid movement of the
1980s, and ongoing environmental activism over the last four decades, university
campuses have endured a steady stream of sign waving, marches and sit-ins that have
called attention to a range of social issues. These student movements have experienced a
range of success, aided and inhibited by their representation in the mainstream media.
This paper examines the ongoing struggle between media and university student activism
by focusing on the most recent student activism — the student anti-sweatshop
movement
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This study addresses the following questions: How did the major daily
newspapers in the U.S. represent the student anti-sweatshop movement? What discourses
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This research is part of a larger, ongoing project on the student anti-sweatshop movement. This preliminary research into the media
coverage of the student anti-sweatshop movement examines newspaper coverage of student activism and the sweatshop issue from
1995-2002, using three national papers: NY Times, Washington Post and the LA Times. Articles were retrieved through the
Lexis/Nexis database. Although more detailed coverage of individual campus events can be found in newspapers close to universities
where actions have taken place, this study focuses on more national coverage. The newspapers examined in this study are significant
because their coverage moves the issue beyond the local and is connected to a national news agenda setting process that ripples
through the consolidated media industries. The progressive press —The Nation, Mother Jones, The Progressive — have covered this
student activism extensively, though their audience is significantly smaller than these national papers and they tend to operate outside
the corporate media agenda setting process. Finally, I am in the process of examining individual cases of local media coverage and
that data is forthcoming.
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