Representation of “Black Lives Matter” Movement in the American Mainstream Media

The murder of George Floyd, a black American citizen, by a Minneapolis police officer sparked widespread protests from the American citizens against systematic racism in the country and the formation of “Black Lives is Matter” movement. The scope of these protests was not limited to Floyd’s murder and in an unprecedented step, the poeple repeatedly assaulted the country's main symbols, including the US flag, the statues of famous figures, and commercial and media brands of the country. The way of confrontation of the mainstream media with social movements has always been noticed by the researchers. In the present study, using van Dijk’s critical discourse analysis model, we aimed to investigate the representation of this movement in the US mainstream media such as CNN, Fox News and The New York Times. To do that, using purposive sampling, 20 news from The New York Times, 15 news from Fox News and 10 news from CNN were selected and explored. Then, the research data were interpreted using van Dijk model’s linguistic signs and elements. The findings show that, during the protests, all three media outlets challenged the actions of the protesters in attacking the American values and the components of the soft power of the country and tried to portray this movement negatively and delegitimize the protesters. Fox News, meanwhile, has been more outspoken in its "paradigm of protest" and its labeling and marginalization of the protesters because of its proximity to the government and the ruling party than the other two media outlets critical of the Donald Trump.