Performing protest in Jamaica

The mass media as stage

Bibliographic Data

ID12878236
AuthorsHume Johnson (James Cook University, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume4
Issue2
Pages163-182
Publication date2008-06-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Media and Cultural Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1740-8296 • E-ISSN: 2040-0918
PublisherIntellect (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1386/macp.4.2.163_1
OpenAlexW1998492606
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited28

Contemporary citizen activism, especially street protests and demonstrations, can hardly be imagined without the mass media to amplify and sustain its message as well as mobilise a following and encourage support. The attendance of news media at the site of protest campaigns also exerts a powerful influence on their overall functioning and management and particularly on the performance of protestors. Using empirical data from Jamaica and drawing on aspects of Douglas Kellner's (2003) work on media spectacle, I explore this acute interdependence between popular protest and popular media; the varied and multiple ways in which the news media, particularly television, are integral to the performance of protest in Jamaica, how protestors manoeuvre themselves, and deploy spectacle to secure their interests within the media spotlight. Conversely, I explore the media's coverage and treatment of protest and protestors and what impact, if any, this may have on how protestors are driven to perform them

Attendance · Mass media · Media studies · Political science · Popular media · Sociology · Spectacle · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Law · Socioeconomic Development in Asia

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