Inductive Analysis of Media Narrative Regarding 2020 George Floyd Protests in Minnesota

My project aims to examine how two newspapers in the Twin Cities covered the George Floyd Protests of 2020, 和 how that coverage changed over time. 作为明尼苏达州的居民, I was at the epicenter of these events, 和 they had a marked impact on my interests 和 plans going forward. These protests inspired my choice of major 和 future field, 和 I wanted my final project to reflect the impact they’ve had on me. 给n the prevalence of research regarding the origin 和 outcome of these events, I found a niche that allowed me to examine them from a new angle.
 

My project itself centers around two newspapers, both locally distributed in the Twin Cities, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, 和 the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. 使用这些纸张, I aimed to determine how the actors present, 也就是抗议者, 警察, 以及城市或州官员, 都是以叙事方式呈现的, 和 how that presentation changed over time or differed between papers. 为此目的, I read every article containing the words “George Floyd” 和 “Protest” between two set dates 和, using an inductive scheme I created as I read, coded each for the presence of certain words or phrases I deemed to be representative of defined perspective.
 

Collating this data has shown me that both papers marched in rough lockstep through June, where their coverage began to differ. 即, 先锋出版社, 一个更保守的出口, leaned heavily into covering property crime 和 portraying the protesters as criminal, while the Star Tribune began to center their coverage on the positive changes brought to the city. 通过这项研究, I hope to advance the larger retrospective on these events by providing a methodology that can be applied to other media outlets, 和 can be referenced for other cities.