Media and Grassroots Activism for the Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals: A Study of Postcolonial Macau From 2002 to 2021

Abstract

In the background of increasing concerns over the various threats to sustainable development, grassroots movements for the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs) are on the rise worldwide. Existing research has confirmed the positive co-relations between media attention and the success of activism as the former can bring along substantial mobilization resources to the activists. However, not much is known about how the news media frame the protests against threats to the achievement of SDGs. To fill the gap, this study has sampled and analyzed 810 news items on protests against threats to SDGs by news organizations in the postcolonial Macau of China over 19 years, from 2002 to 2021. In particular, the study investigates how the news framing of the protests evolved through the years. The findings show that the news media consider the protests less radical over the years with the protesters focused more on the political issues related to the 17 SDGs. Such findings suggest that the media stance was the driving force for the marginalization of the protests.