Editor's Introduction

This analysis of the framing of the student movement and protests of the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention found that a protest paradigm was used to construct the stories. As a result, the dominant narrative structure was of a battle or conflict, official sources were relied on, public opinion was used, and the movement was delegitimized through various framing techniques. Because the newspapers incorporated elements of the protest paradigm into their stories, the status quo was supported. However, differences in the degree of support for the status quo was found between the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times. Despite these differences, it is argued that the press coverage in both newspapers influenced readers' perceptions of the protestors and shaped public opinion against the movement.