A qualitative analysis of how Just Stop Oil protests are framed in the UK online news media

Authors

Holly Handy

Document Type

Psychology Article

Abstract

Previous research has found that when the news media reports on demonstrations, protest groups can be subject to delegitimising coverage. This body of research can be subsumed under Chan & Lee’s “protest paradigm” and is believed to consist of a set of narrative frames that journalists default to in the coverage of protests. Recent research demonstrates how the use of these framing devices may be in decline and advocates for a more integrated approach to protest coverage. However, there is little research that uses analytic frameworks specifically theorised to explore media framing. This study uses Giles and Shaw’s media framing analysis in conjunction with Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis to explore the use of media frames in coverage of Just Stop Oil protests. The data set includes 22 UK online news articles from 6 UK news publishers. The results of this analysis showed that a large portion of the articles employed delegitimising frames in the coverage of Just Stop Oil Protests. However, a portion of articles have also demonstrated legitimising coverage, either exclusively, or in tandem with delegitimising frames.

Publication Date

2025-08-30

Publication Title

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Volume

18

Issue

1

ISSN

1754-2383

Deposit Date

2025-07-28

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Handy, Holly (2025) "A qualitative analysis of how Just Stop Oil protests are framed in the UK online news media," The Plymouth Student Scientist: Vol. 18: Iss. 1, Article 5.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.70156/1754-2383.1509
Available at: https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/tpss/vol18/iss1/5