Framing and Sourcing the 2019 Lebanese Protests on Local Television

Abstract

This content analysis examined how local television framed and sourced the 2019 Lebanese protests. Conflict and responsibility frames dominated the coverage in all media, with anti-protest TV more likely to highlight conflict, attribute responsibility to the protestors, and emphasize the negative economic consequences of the protests. Regarding sources, state actors were more likely to be used in anti-protest media, whereas protestor sources were more prevalent in pro-protest media and in stories about responsibility. As for regular citizens, they appeared significantly more in stories about conflict. Findings indicate that the media rely on the public and not always officials to relay their message if media owners support the protests. The contribution of this study lies in uncovering new patterns in media sourcing and framing during protests, which allows the discipline to better predict when and how frames and sources intersect beyond the West.