Commenting on the Umbrella Movement: A Framing Analysis of Online News and Audience Discourse

This thesis examines the relationship between news frames and audience comments surrounding Hong Kong’s 2014 Umbrella Movement. Motivated by inconsistent reports on the “pro-democracy” movement, this study questions: How was the Umbrella Movement framed across mainstream news outlets, and what are audiences saying? Employing a dual framing and discourse analysis, this study examined news coverage on the Umbrella Movement and the discussions generated by commenters across the online editions of three national newspapers: South China Morning Post, the Washington Post, and Global Times. The findings revealed that news frames were connected to a nation’s history and enduring societal values. While news outlets had defined positions towards the movement, the key findings revealed that comments were predominantly generated by critical audiences who challenged dominant news narratives. In doing so, they generate interactive communicative spaces that enable alternative perspectives to emerge, rendering comment sections as valuable resources when studying news frames online.