Whether they helped bring down Jose Mourinho, led marches against their club owners or simply sat in silence during a match, fans have a long history of using their passion for football to fight for social change. From boycotting pro teams with segregated seating to protesting the Civil Rights Movement, fan activism is more than just a fad.
But the way journalists report on these stories often has a significant impact on how people perceive them. To help media organizations avoid dehumanizing or criminalizing the people who participate in these events, the Center for Media Engagement recently conducted a study to explore the effectiveness of different story framing tactics.
The research showed that stories that humanized the teenager whose death sparked the protest resulted in more positive attitudes toward the protest itself and the protesters. This effect was stronger among people who considered themselves Democrats and those with Democrat-leaning views. Alternatively, stories that criminalized the person sparked negative perceptions of both the protest and the protesters. These results held regardless of participants’ political beliefs. In addition to humanizing the person whose death sparked the protest, other tactics that can be used to promote more positive attitudes include sharing personal information about the protester such as their hobbies or family life to give readers a more complete picture of who they are and how they came to be involved in the event. This approach can also boost perceptions of the newsworthiness of the story.