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Flag on the Play: Colin Kaepernick and the Protest Paradigm

Danielle Sarver Coombsa, Cheryl Ann Lamberta, David Cassilob, and Zachary Humphriesb

aSchool of Journalism and Mass Communication, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA; bCollege of Communication and Information, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA

ABSTRACT San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s decision to protest the national anthem of the United States by taking a knee sparked widespread attention, much of it negative. This research examines the mainstream media coverage of Kaepernick’s protest. Our analysis identified an overarching theme that permeated all coverage: a focus on the method of protest (kneeling) versus the message of the protest (social justice). More specifically, we uncovered six interrelated frames that can be examined and understood through the theoretical lens of the protest paradigm: Kaepernick himself; individual action; virality; power and influence; professional risk; and deflection and distrac- tion. By understanding these frames, we can begin to develop a better understanding of how individual actors—including ath- letes—can use their platforms to raise awareness and spark dis- cussions around important issues, using their celebrity to amplify voices that otherwise might go unheard, as well as the possible consequences of those actions.

KEYWORDS Framing; media; sports communication; protest; athlete activism

Introduction

It all started with a slightly blurry photograph, shot from the stands. During a National Football League pre-season game on August 26, 2016, a member of the Niners Nation had noticed San Francisco 49ers back-up quarterback Colin Kaepernick sitting while others stood for the United States’ national anthem (Chan, 2016). Kaepernick had not announced his action, and most were unaware; in fact, this was the third week that he had stayed on the bench while the anthem played. Once the picture of Kaepernick sit- ting was tweeted, however, it caught fire. Going viral almost immediately, the national media quickly picked up the story. A controversy was born. When asked after the game to explain his refusal to stand during the anthem, Kaepernick explained he sat “because of the oppression of people of color and ongoing issues with police brutality” (Sandritter, November 6, 2016, ¶8). Kaepernick’s initial decision to sit during the anthem sparked immediate backlash.

After lengthy discussions with former Green Beret and NFL kicker Nate Boyer and

CONTACT Danielle Sarver Coombs [email protected] 201 Franklin Hall, Kent, OH 44242, USA � 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

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Niners teammate Eric Reid, Kaepernick decided to take a knee moving forward in hopes of refocusing the conversation. According to Kaepernick:

We were talking to (Boyer) about how we can get the message back on track and not take away from the military, not take away from pride in our country but keep the focus where the issues really are. As we talked about it, we came up with taking a knee because there are issues that still need to be addressed and there was also a way to show more respect for the men and women that fight for this country. (Vasilogambros, 2016, ¶ 4)

This did little to abate critics. Kaepernick’s jerseys were burned, and he found himself at the center of a firestorm. Not everyone was opposed to Kaepernick’s actions, how- ever. Although some opted to destroy his jersey, others embraced it; just over a week into his protest, Kaepernick’s jersey was the third-highest seller among players on NFL.com, and three of the top six jerseys in the 49ers online shop were ones related to him (Brinson, 2016). Clearly, the public felt strongly about Kaepernick’s protest, whether they agreed with him or not. This research was designed to examine how Kaepernick’s on-field protest actions

were covered in the mainstream media, both in terms of the emergent frames evident in coverage and, more specifically, within the context of the protest paradigm—a theor- etical framework used to explain and understand media coverage of social protests. Our investigation includes stories written at the time his initial decision to sit out the anthem was noticed through the end of the next month. Our analysis identified an overarching theme that permeated all coverage: a focus on the method of protest (kneel- ing) versus the message of the protest (social justice). More specifically, we uncovered six interrelated frames that can be examined and understood through the theoretical lens of the protest paradigm: Kaepernick himself; individual action; virality; power and influence; professional risk; and deflection and distraction. By understanding this cover- age both on its own terms and then contextualized within the protest paradigm, we can begin to develop a better understanding of how individual actors can use their plat- forms to raise awareness and spark discussions around important issues, using their celebrity to amplify voices that otherwise might go unheard.

Literature review

This review begins with exploring two areas of research: media coverage of social pro- tests and the involvement of athletes in social protests. It continues with brief examina- tions of framing and the protest paradigm. Finally, this section concludes with research questions informed by these frameworks.

Media coverage of social protests

Research indicates media coverage of protests can undermine the efficacy and impact of these actions. Navigating the tensions in this coverage can be exceedingly difficult. In a study on Occupy Wall Street, Gottleib (2015) wrote,

Journalists faced a daunting task when it came to striking an appropriate balance of taking the claims of protesters seriously and being critical when they faltered. Consequently,

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media scholars have taken up the question of how much news coverage of protests is warranted and what considerations should be emphasized in the coverage. (p. 2)

For protesters, media attention can be “crucial for conveying information about pro- tests” (Andrews & Biggs, 2006, p. 752). Protest movements need media attention to spread and grow, and decisions to avoid covering protests informs audience opinions about social movements (e.g., Brasted, 2005). Furthermore, “research shows that news coverage of protest groups that challenge the status quo treats them relatively critically” (Boyle, McLeod, & Armstrong, 2012, p. 127). Boykoff (2006) identified the journalistic norm of reporting on protests as isolated

news stories, and other scholars have also identified the prominence of negative ele- ments of an event to connote newsworthiness (Cole & Harcup, 2010), thus potentially overemphasizing the socially deviant behaviors and actions of a few at the expense of the overall movement. This often serves to undermine the message, because “protesters can make their issues more salient in the news by escalating conflict and getting arrested, but that journalists tend to focus on the conflict instead of the protest issues” (Gottleib, 2015, p. 18). As these studies indicate, media coverage often focuses on the group’s tactics rather than its goals (Boyle et al., 2012).

Athletes involved in social protests

Sporting events are important cultural grounds for considering the importance of pro- test and engagement. As Hartmann (1996) argued,

in an age when power and capital have developed sophisticated techniques to insulate themselves against traditional, materialistic forms of protest and challenge, cultural arenas provide one of the few public spaces in which otherwise marginalized and disempowered groups can express social grievances and begin to fashion some sort of mobilization on their behalf. (p. 549)

This is particularly true in sports like American football and basketball, where Black players constitute a large majority. However, the representation of Black Americans in these sports does not mean their politics are welcome. As Peterson (2009) noted, there is “an unwritten rule or norm in sports that its participants leave their politics and social activism at the arena or stadium gate” (p. 101). In other words, the message to athletes consistently has been that it is okay to have political opinions—just not where most of America has to be exposed to them. Choosing to express controversial political opinions can have repercussions for athletes. After all, these threats are real: “In effect, when the personal becomes political in sports, the cheerleading often comes to an abrupt halt. If athletes use their status and recognition to promote social and political causes, they often find themselves criticized and pushed to the sidelines” (Kaufman & Wolff, 2010, p. 156). These consequences have been faced by a number of athletes who have opted to use the imposed symbols of patriotism so closely tied to American sport- ing events. In the United States,

athletes are expected to play and not protest. When athletes do join the political discourse and advocate for social justice, they are likely to face a backlash of contempt and scorn. Indeed, there is a long list of athletes who have experienced such a reaction after publicly proclaiming their political convictions on the playing field: Tommie Smith and John Carlos

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(and Peter Norman), Muhammad Ali, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Carlos Delgado, Toni Smith, Steve Nash, Marco Loka, Etan Thomas, and Craig Hodges, among others. (Kaufman & Wolff, 2010, p. 156)

As such, media coverage of these protests often can be negative.

Media coverage of athletes’ protests

The role and experiences of athletes as activists is one that has intrigued scholars over time, particularly in terms of how Black athletes can—or don’t, at times—use their plat- forms to garner attention for civil rights efforts (see Agyemang et al, 2010; Coombs & Cassilo, 2017; Cunningham & Regan, 2012; Kaufman & Wolff, 2010; Melnick & Jackson, 2002; Pelak, 2005). Scholarship combining race, sport, and social movements has garnered renewed research interest in today’s polarized sociopolitical environment, often examining the personal considerations an athlete must evaluate before engaging in protest. A prominent example of media coverage of sports activism—and the consequences

faced—is examination of Tommie Smith’s and John Carlos’s decision to protest at the 1968 Olympics. As Peterson (2009) discovered, a substantial contingent of the sports community disparaged the protest, fueled in part by the U.S. Olympic Committee’s sus- pension of the sprinters and subsequent apology to the International Olympics Committee. Sportswriters alternately condemned the athletes and refused to cover the story. Although covered by the American press with overwhelmingly negative tone and content, the medal ceremony protest has since grown in importance as a symbol of the civil rights movement. Community views about social protests prompted participation in the case of LeBron

James and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. The focus of BLM is to end police kill- ings of unarmed African Americans. When a Cleveland police officer killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice on a playground just north of James’s hometown, the #NoJusticeNoLeBron Twitter campaign called out the Cleveland Cavaliers player. Coombs and Cassilo (2017) found a community versus protest theme in their analysis of James’s activism, in which the sports community and the African-American community figured prominently. Perhaps learning from the bold activism of Smith and Carlos, which engendered substantial backlash and criticism, James embraced cautious, deliberate advocacy. Media coverage reflects their contrasting approaches and can potentially—at least partially—explain the difference in coverage. Journalists characterized the 1968 Olympic sprinters as embittered radicals. Conversely, journalists who cover James recirculate the approachable, everyman brand he has carefully cultivated over the years. This is particularly important in the age of digital media. Given the speed with which messages travel via social media, individuals must take careful consideration of the personal and professional cost of engaging in social protests.

Framing and the protest paradigm

Frames were initially posited by Goffman (1974) as primary frameworks into which individuals organize experiences. In communication literature, frames have come to be associated with conceptual categorization of media messages. Frames can overlap, reinforce, and sometime contradict each other. According to Entman (1993), “To frame

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is to select some aspect of a perceived reality and to make them more salient in a com- municating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described” (p. 52). He asserted that frames define problems, diagnose causes, make moral judgments, and suggest remedies. Research has made clear that “Media discourse is not only vital in terms of framing

social issues and problems for the attentive public, but it is also a place of ideological and ideational struggle for various social movements, state actors, and institutions” (Boykoff, 2006, p. 227). Through frames, media play an essential role in establishing the ways we view and understand our institutions and ideologies. As Todd Gitlin wrote in his seminal work, The Whole World is Watching, “Of all the institutions of daily life, the media specialize in orchestrating everyday consciousness—by virtue of their perva- siveness, their accessibility, their centralized symbolic capacity” (1980, pp. 1–2). This implicit reification and reinforcement of hegemonic ideals are particularly salient in terms of demonstrations and protest, because they are “treated as a potential or actual disruption of legitimate order, not as a statement about the world. These assumptions automatically divert coverage away from critical treatment of the institutional, systemic, and everyday workings of property and the State” (Gitlin, 1980, p. 271). By both reinforcing hegemonic structures and by emphasizing some issues and not

others, journalists essentially interpret rather than report the news. To that end, scholar- ship “has yielded evidence of a protest paradigm: a set of news coverage patterns that typifies mainstream media coverage. This coverage generally disparages protesters and hinders their role as vital actors on the political stage” (McLeod, 2007, p. 185). First articulated by Chan and Lee in 1984 (Chan & Lee, 1984), the protest paradigm is an explanatory framework used to understand how mainstream media cover social protests. According to this theory, journalists use a specific set of frames to cover activists and social movements, most of which position social protests outside the mainstream. By 1992, McLeod and Hertog (1992) had refined the paradigm, ascribing patterns in media coverage to professional norms into which journalists are socialized. Scholars have identified five characteristics of the protest paradigm: (a) news

frames, in which media frame social movements as violating socio-behavioral norms; (b) reliance on official sources and official definitions, in which officials hold promin- ence as information sources in news stories; (c) invocation of public opinion, in which opinions that contrast those of protesters are given prominence to convey movements’ status on the margins of society; (d) delegitimization; in which journalists situate social protests as ineffective by providing no background context to movements; and (e) demonization, in which journalists include short- and long-term negative conse- quences of social protests. The protest paradigm has been used to study a range of social protests including the

Tea Party (Weaver & Scacco, 2013); the Million Man March (Watkins, the Vietnam War and apartheid (McCluskey et al., 2009), immigrants’ rights (McLeod, 2007), and globalization (Rauch et al., 2007). An extensive review of the literature, however, dem- onstrates that the protest paradigm rarely is used to examine a case where an individual actor who already had a prominent platform used his or her celebrity and ensuing media attention to shine a spotlight on a particular issue. As a professional football

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player, Colin Kaepernick had hundreds of cameras following him almost every weekend from August through December 2016—and even longer if his team made the playoffs. By taking action during a ritualized and routinized part of his event—kneeling during the anthem before a televised game—Kaepernick virtually ensured media attention. Our emergent frames indicate that the protest paradigm offers a useful framework for exam- ining media coverage of Kaepernick’s protest, and this particular case extends the pro- test paradigm to better examine the impact of having a high-profile advocate using his platform to shed light on an important issue. Based on the protest paradigm and literature examining the role of activist athletes,

the following research questions were developed to guide our analysis:

RQ1: What frames emerged from media coverage of Kaepernick’s protest in the first month after his action was noticed?

RQ2: How does this coverage support, extend, or contradict the protest paradigm?

Methods

Data collection

To understand how Kaepernick was framed by the media for his decision to kneel dur- ing the national anthem, articles were obtained from three categories of news websites: sports, local, and national. The online sources were determined by examining the top 15 sports news websites by estimated unique monthly viewers, as compiled by Sports Business Daily in August 2016. From this list, two were selected for inclusion due to the breadth of their coverage and sizes of their audiences: ESPN.com and BleacherReport.com. The authors also included the top local online source based on user data, SFGate.com (the Hearst-owned “sister site” of the San Francisco Chronicle), and the online versions of two national news sources: The New York Times (nytimes.- com), the unofficial paper of record in the United States, and The Washington Post (washingtonpost.com), a nationally prominent newspaper that has extensive experience covering NFL-related controversy as the local paper for the Washington Redskins. A search for articles within all of these websites was done for “Colin Kaepernick,” using the individual site’s search function. Articles were pulled from August 27, 2016 (the date Kaepernick’s protest gained coverage) through September 27, 2016. This date range was chosen to ensure that adequate time was given for media to cover Kaepernick’s continued protest and is consistent with other studies examining media framing of spe- cific events (e.g., Chyi & McCombs, 2004; Muschert & Carr, 2006).

Sample

Our initial sample contained 499 articles. Duplicates and articles that focused on in- game reporting (“gamers,” according to sports journalists) and thus not addressing the protests were removed, resulting in a final sample of 390: Bleacher Report (n¼ 39), ESPN (n¼ 129), The New York Times (n¼ 25), SFGate (n¼ 90), and The Washington Post (n¼ 107).

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Data analysis

A textual analysis using the constant comparative method (Glazer & Strauss, 1967) was performed to uncover frames in this coverage. To develop frames, researchers used a random number generator to split the initial sample into five sections, each of which included a range of stories from each of the five sources. The first section, 10% of the entire sample (39 stories), was analyzed by all four researchers to identify emergent themes and ensure consistency in interpretation. Although our textual study is neither intended nor designed to quantify codes for analysis, this percentage was selected because it is the standard social science expectation for determining intercoder reliabil- ity (De Swert, 2012). The remaining stories were divided into four equal-sized sections (89–90 stories) for each researcher to independently analyze. This structure allowed us to encompass a large sample size while ensuring methodological consistency. All stories were discussed concurrently and holistically. Because we wanted to tease out the subtle nuances that could be found in story frames, we deliberately did not limit each analysis to one frame per article. Instead, multiple frames could be (and often were) present in the same article. After each researcher individually analyzed their own and the group sections, the team

met to elicit and elaborate emergent themes. With continued analytical deliberation, six frames were identified that were consistently represented across all three categories of news stories (sports, local, and national) as well as media and source. Ultimately, these frames serve as mechanisms to understand the overarching, defining theme of media’s coverage: Rather than focusing on why Kaepernick was taking a knee, coverage almost entirely foregrounded, discussed, and debated his act of kneeling,11 consistent with Oliver and Maney’s (2000) finding that “protest forms and protest content cannot be directly equated” (p. 468). This theme permeated almost all reporting. These six emergent frames and overarching theme were then reconsidered within the context of the literature of the protest paradigm, which provided a useful framework for understanding the coverage of Kaepernick and his decision to sit—and then later kneel—during the national anthem. Our findings are presented accordingly in the remainder of this manuscript.

Findings

Despite the substantial differences in cases between this and other protests studied, our six emergent frames are remarkably consistent with what the protest paradigm frame- work indicates we should expect from coverage of a protest. As such, this section is structured to first describe each frame uncovered in our analysis and then contextualize those frames within the relevant characteristic(s) of the protest paradigm.

Method versus message

The protest paradigm expects news frames to emphasize violation of sociopolitical norms, aligning with other coverage of athletes by foregrounding the “deviance” of the behavior (Kaufman, 2008). In this vein, the most important finding from our analysis was how little of the coverage actually focused on Kaepernick’s message about police brutality and social justice. Instead, stories overwhelmingly focused on the act or

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method of the protest—kneeling during the anthem—rather than the issue being pro- tested. Through questions asked and quotations used in most stories, the protest was framed to be antimilitary, antipolice, and fundamentally anti-American, a direct contrast to the NFL’s highly deliberate strategy of adopting American symbols and rituals (flag ceremonies, celebrations of active-duty military, etc.). Rather than using the protest action to write about or question the frequency with which unarmed Black men, women, and children are killed by police, this simple act of kneeling was often inter- preted and presented as saying all police are bad: “Martin Halloran, the San Francisco Police Officers Association president, sent a letter Monday to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and 49ers CEO Jed York denouncing Kaepernick’s ‘ill-advised’ statements and a ‘naivete’ and ‘total lack of sensitivity’ toward police, along with an ‘incredible lack of knowledge’ about officer-involved shootings” (ESPN News Services, 2016a,¶3). This was then extended to the military due to the connection to the flag. New York Giants coach Ben McAdoo went so far as to bring in the team’s offensive coordinator, a graduate of the U.S. Army Airborne, Ranger, and Assault schools, and a military officer to talk to the team about “the importance of the anthem” (Raanan, 2016, ¶2.) McAdoo is explicit in his connection between the anthem and the military: “The way we operate for the national anthem, we consider it a small gesture to those that served and sacrificed their lives for our country and for us to play and coach in this great game” (Raanan, 2016, ¶3). Despite Kaepernick’s repeated insistence that his protest was not antimilitary, this

theme dominated all coverage—no matter what Kaepernick and the other protesters said to clarify, this focus did not abate. When other members of the football commu- nity (players, coaches, owners, etc.) were asked to comment, responses inevitably focused on what taking a knee meant for the military and/or police rather than the underlying issues of social justice and police brutality. For example, New Orleans Saints’ White quarterback Drew Brees, Super Bowl champion and generally considered a future Hall of Famer, was critical of Kaepernick’s action: “[Brees], who has long been a passionate supporter of the military, stressed that he has no issue with Kaepernick’s desire to speak out against racial injustice. He just has an issue with the San Francisco 49ers quarterback’s method of protest. Brees said the American flag is ‘sacred’” (Triplett, 2016, ¶2). Such was the dominance of this theme that even those who spoke more positively

about Kaepernick were presented as discussing the method rather than the message, undercutting Kaepernick’s mission even when indicating support. For example, Jim Brown, a former hall of fame running back in the NFL and legendary athlete-activist who was known for his support of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, responded to the critics questioning Kaepernick’s method by saying, “He’s within his rights and he’s telling the truth as he sees it. I am with him 100 percent. People are talking about the methodology, but every young man is not a professor” (Branch, 2016a, ¶ 19). In this statement, Brown’s support of Kaepernick is conditioned—and undermined—by his implied critique of Kaepernick’s intellect (“not a professor”) and ability to speak to his motivations, despite Kaepernick having done so. Furthermore, even when a legendary athlete activist spoke in support of Kaepernick, the emphasis on the message was lost at the expense of another take on the decision to protest the anthem.

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Emergent frame: Kaepernick himself

Although Kaepernick was explicit and consistent in his explanations about why he was protesting and what he stood for, the media often framed the situation around his iden- tity, his physical being, and his legitimacy as a messenger for this cause. When asked about Kaepernick refusing to stand for the national anthem to protest the treatment of people of color, former NFL Pro Bowler Rodney Harrison stated frankly, “He’s not Black” (Boren, 2016, ¶ 1). Although Harrison eventually issued a correction and apol- ogy, he was not alone in questioning the legitimacy of a biracial man raised by White parents becoming the de facto face of a Black rights movement: After all, if he isn’t really Black, why is he doing this? The emphasis on Kaepernick as a man—rather than his kneeling—often took the pos-

ition that he was being not just unpatriotic but selfish, a cardinal sin in the pantheon of elite team sports. Chris Ault, Kaepernick’s former head coach at the University of Nevada, made this perspective clear: “Kap using an NFL game as his platform to show the importance of his cause was selfish. Not standing up for an American treasure such as the National Anthem is disrespectful” (Branch, 2016a, ¶6). Then-Republican presi- dential nominee Donald Trump characterized Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the National Anthem as a “terrible thing” and went so far as to question Kaepernick’s authenticity and future as an American: “Maybe he should find a country that works better for him. Let him try, it’s not going to happen” (Branch, 2016a, ¶11). Finally, coverage focusing on Kaepernick himself often included concerns about his personal well-being. According to Moyle (2016), “Kaepernick hears and sees it all—malicious slurs, odious remarks harkening back to Jim Crow, people questioning his right to pro- test” (¶8). This was not a surprise, since Kaepernick anticipated racial backlash when he decided to stand up for something he believed in (Moyle, 2016).

Protest paradigm: Demonization

In previous research focusing on groups and organized movements, demonization often focused on “the negative consequences of the protest, such as the violence, property dam- age, traffic congestion, and expenditure of community resources (i.e., the cost of law enforcement), that result from the protest” (McLeod 2007, p. 187). In this case, the peace- ful and passive nature of the protest—kneeling during the anthem—did not result in any public damage or unrest. Instead, the demonization focused much more on Kaepernick himself. He was characterized as antimilitary, antipolice, and anti-American—violating three of the most sacrosanct concepts in the American mythology and ones that are cen- tral to the American sporting ethos, particularly in professional football.

Emergent frame: Individual action

Kaepernick’s protest during the anthem quickly spread to other players and other teams across the NFL, a phenomenon discussed in more detail in the next frame. Rather than contextualizing Kaepernick’s kneeling (or similar actions from other players) as part of a movement, however, articles that reflected the “individual action” frame treated these protests as individual and segmented. They were more likely to talk about the actions in

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terms of isolation—this is one man’s protest. These presentations as “Kaepernick’s pro- test” served to minimize and delegitimize the potential impact of what he and other athletes were doing; a moment, rather than a movement. This often was reflected in the context of other athletes who declared they would never engage in this type of protest. For example, former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal was quoted as saying, “I don’t know Colin, but to each his own. I really don’t have a say on it, but I would never do that … Just, you know—other ways to get your point across” (Bieler, 2016a, ¶4). This fram- ing of the protest as the action of one—“to each his own”—effectively reduces the scope and scale of these protests to an isolated, individual action. In addition to framing protest actions as limited to certain athletes, this frame rein-

forced perceptions that individual athletes are, at their core, entertainers with “fan bases that expect athletes to ‘shut up and play’” (Eligon & Cacciola, 2016, ¶4). This was framed both as an absolute rejection of players protesting during the national anthem as well as a betrayal of team trust—another way of reinforcing the selfishness of the act of protest being directly oppositional to football’s team culture. This perspective was expressed by Carolina Panthers’ wide receiver Ted Ginn during an interview with ESPN. When asked about the likelihood of Panthers players protesting, Ginn replied,

We haven’t [so far]. I don’t think that’s going to change. Whoever has whatever opinion on the situation, they’re keeping it to themselves and basically doing what’s right for their team and being a man within the team by holding onto whatever opinion they have. I commend every man in this locker room so we can move forward. We are putting the two aside and playing football. (Newton, 2016, ¶2)

Even when athletes other than Kaepernick took part with increasing visibility, official statements and media coverage continued to frame these actions as being those of indi- viduals rather than part of a larger effort working toward a specific goal: bringing atten- tion to issues around social justice and police brutality. One of the United States’ most recognizable soccer stars, Megan Rapinoe, offers a useful exemplar. Best known as a midfielder for the U.S. women’s national soccer team, Rapinoe decided to take a knee during the national anthem before a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) match in Chicago in September of 2016. At that point, Rapinoe made a concerted effort to draw attention to the message behind the protest, and her specific and vocal support of Kaepernick extended his message to include other marginalized groups:

I am disgusted with the way he has been treated and the fans and the hatred he has received in all this. It is overtly racist: “Stay in your place, Black man.” Just doesn’t feel right to me. We need a more substantive conversation around race relations and the way people of color are treated. … And quite honestly, being gay, I have stood with my hand over my heart during the national anthem and felt like I haven’t had my liberties protected, so I can absolutely sympathize with that feeling. (ESPN News Services, 2016c, ¶4)

Despite her efforts, the reaction to Rapinoe’s protest showed the message was once again subjugated to a focus on methods and isolated action. At her next match, the owner of the host team opted to play the national anthem before players walked out in order to prevent Rapinoe from protesting; specifically, “rather than subject our fans and friends to the disrespect we feel such an act would represent” (Goff, 2016, ¶3). The statement from the Spirit explained, “we respectfully disagree with her method of hijacking our

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organization’s event to draw attention to what is ultimately a personal—albeit worthy— cause” (Goff, 2016, ¶9). The comments from both the owner and the team serve to reinforce the emphasis on method over message and to define Rapinoe’s protest as an individual action—her own “personal—albeit worthy—cause.” By characterizing protest actions as individual actions, the overarching goal of the movement is undermined and dismissed.

Protest paradigm: Delegitimization

According to the protest paradigm, protests are delegitimized because “The media often fail to adequately explain the meaning and context of protest actions, leading the audi- ence to perceive them as futile, pointless, and even irrational” (McLeod, 2007, p. 187). This is clearly demonstrated in this frame. By presenting the protest actions as those of individual actors, coverage failed to connect the protests to both the root cause—police brutality and social justice—as well as the broader social actions happening around Kaepernick and other athletes.

Protest paradigm: Invocation of public opinion

Kaepernick expressed himself with the hope that both his colleagues and the public would see his actions and take part in his fight against police brutality and racial injustice. As the protest paradigm indicates, “Cues to public opinion typically point out differences between protesters and mainstream society. They include reports of opinion polls, sweep- ing generalizations about public opinion, bystander portrayals, norm invocation, and legal transgressions” (McLeod, 2007, p. 187). In this case, bystander portrayals—those “who by definition do not join the protest” (McLeod, 2007, p. 187)—were represented by the play- ers who stood on the sidelines but did not join in. As expected, those bystanders often served to undermine the validity of the protests. For example, in an article with the sub- head “Colin Kaepernick needs to look at ‘big picture,’” Pittsburgh Steelers player and for- mer Army Ranger Alejandro Villanueva was quoted as saying,

I don’t know if the most effective way is to sit down during the national anthem with a country that’s providing you freedom, providing you $16 million a year … when there are Black minorities that are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan for less than $20,000 a year. … It’s his decision. Obviously he has brought up the issue in a great way. But I think if he encourages other players or other people in the stands to sit down, it’s going to send the wrong message. (Fowler, 2016, ¶ 3)

Foregrounding the voices of those who opted out reinforced both the focus on method over message as well as the “individual action” frame.

Emergent frame: Virality

Although individual action was a dominant frame, one of the most striking elements of coverage of Kaepernick’s foregrounded the opposite: his protest went viral, consistent with the “protest wave” identified in previous scholarship (Andrews & Biggs, 2006). Although Kaepernick’s initial decision to sit seemed to be personal, the act of protest

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during the national anthem to protest police brutality and support social justice quickly went viral both across and outside of the NFL. A number of current and former NFL players provided at least tacit support through

participating in similar gestures, such as raising fists in the air during the anthem: “Kaepernick’s initial protest has inspired players from the 49ers and multiple NFL teams to take a stand. Three Philadelphia Eagles players raised their right fist in the Black power salute prior to the team’s game against the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football” (Wells, 2016, ¶8) Further examples included European soccer teams, high-school football teams, cheer-

leaders, professional hockey players, and the aforementioned protest by NWSL star Megan Rapinoe. As we see in the exemplar above, these gestures were consistently framed as being inspired by Kaepernick and his decision to kneel—Kaepernick’s action had gone viral. This held true when he was not anywhere near where the event occurred. As is the case with viral content, the decision to engage in protest during the national anthem mutated and transcended the point of origination. It is important to note, however, content using this frame almost always reinforced

the focus on method over message. Rarely were athletes allowed to refocus the conver- sation on why they were engaging in these protests; instead, the credibility of the mes- sengers and appropriateness of the methods continued to be the focus. The adjudications of whether or not these actions were acceptable or justifiable often were left to those with more power and influence.

Emergent frame: Power and influence

Kaepernick’s protest engendered responses from all spheres of American society, both within the sporting world and outside of it. Within this frame, we found that voices and perspectives of both critics and supporters varied in terms of magnitude and influ- ence based on factors such as race, occupation, and societal status. Individuals with more “power” were quoted and given credibility when commenting on Kaepernick’s protest, while other voices were minimized or eliminated. For example, an article in The Washington Post quoted the White governor of Nebraska:

Also taking issue with the players’ actions was Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts. “Generations of men and women have died to give them that right to protest,” Ricketts said Monday during his weekly radio call-in show (via the Omaha World Herald). “I think the way they chose to protest was disgraceful and disrespectful.” (Bieler, 2016c, ¶4)

As we see here, the power to be foregrounded and thus influence the discussion typ- ically belonged to individuals and organizations with institutional authority. The Santa Clara police union, the body representing officers who would normally work security at the 49ers home games, registered their displeasure with Kaepernick’s decision to kneel by issuing a thinly veiled threat that members would stop providing their services for games if Kaepernick was not punished (ESPN News Services, 2016b, ¶1), citing “inappropriate workplace behavior” (Veklerov, 2016, ¶2). Coverage recognized Kaepernick’s protest had to include White allies willing to pub-

licly support his actions and thus the movement Kaepernick was spotlighting. Some White players, including Atlanta Falcons lineman and former Air Force captain Ben

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Garland, and the New York Jets’ tight end Zach Sudland, offered support for Kaepernick that was conditioned by their own military connections and experiences. When White football player Chris Long spoke out in favor, Kaepernick said, “I think it was huge that Chris stood up and took that stand. I don’t know if he realizes how much that means to this movement and trying to get things changed” (Wagoner, 2016a, ¶5). This need to gain support from officials and organizations with power as well as non-Black athletes is closely tied to the “official sources” characteristic of the pro- test paradigm.

Protest paradigm: Reliance on official sources and official definitions

As discussed in the power and influence frame, this characteristic of the protest para- digm was evident throughout coverage. The press overwhelmingly focused on reactions of those in positions of power, with a clear hierarchy: White position players (particu- larly quarterbacks) or those with high levels of visibility were afforded the most credibil- ity to speak on this issue, including the aforementioned Drew Brees. White politicians— governors and presidential candidates—were invited to opine on Kaepernick’s method of protest, whereas the only notable Black nonathlete voice was then-President Barack Obama. This emphasis on White voices in powerful positions reinforced the structural racism of media coverage, which often privileges White male voices over those of others. Even when other voices—White or non-White—tried to defend Kaepernick, the fundamental emphasis on violations of sociopolitical norms in protest coverage meant the emphasis remained on his method rather than the message. As scholars have found in the past, when people who are in power give their opinions on protest movements, they downplay the “perspectives that challenge that power” (McLeod, 2007, p. 187). That was clear in this coverage as well.

Emergent frame: Professional risk

A consequence of framing protest as individual action is the clear linkage with profes- sional risk. Much of the discussion around players willingness to protest focused on the risk that was associated with taking a stand, particularly in articles more sympathetic to Kaepernick’s actions and the message he was trying to convey. Professional athletes noted that there could be consequences for taking action, particularly in sports where minority athletes had less sway:

[Major League Baseball] Orioles star Adam Jones offered an answer Monday to USA Today. “Baseball is a white man’s sport,” he said. “We already have two strikes against us already,” said Jones, not to be confused with the [NFL] Bengals’ Adam Jones, who also recently spoke out on the topic), “so you might as well not kick yourself out of the game. In football, you can’t kick them out. You need those players. In baseball, they don’t need us.” (Bieler, 2016b, ¶3–4)

Even players not interested in joining Kaepernick recognized the hesitance among some Black athletes to speak out due to the potential risks to their careers: “While he’s not inspired to follow Kaepernick, [Malcolm] Jenkins is encouraged to see Black athletes increasingly being willing to take a stand on social issues, even at the risk of inspiring

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negative reaction” (Branch, 2016b, ¶6). Beyond opportunities to play in professional leagues, athletes who protested also risked losing lucrative sponsorships. When Kaepernick’s actions started to go viral, Senator Ted Cruz from Texas spoke out in favor of a boycott of products promoted by the “rich spoiled athletes” who joined in (Heil, 2016, ¶1). For Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall, this risk became reality. Within the month after the protests started, he lost two sponsorship deals over his decision to kneel during the anthem.

Emergent frame: Deflection and distraction

As we have demonstrated, coverage of the protest deflected the reader away from issues of police brutality and towards issues unrelated to Kaepernick’s focus. Instead, the motivation and meaning behind Kaepernick’s protests were foregrounded, undermining attention that might be paid to the issues of import to Kaepernick and other protestors: “What began as a gesture to protest police brutality and social injustice had careened into a national debate on everything but that” (Witz, 2016, ¶6). That decision became connected to the military and patriotism, thus putting the focus on those issues and deflecting them from police brutality. Instances of imposing military-related conversa- tion included, “Kaepernick has touched off a national debate by sitting during the anthem in the 49ers’ first three preseason games. He has been widely criticized for dis- respecting the military, an issue he addressed Sunday” (Branch, 2016c, ¶5). When other athletes and coaches offered commentary on Kaepernick’s protest—whether positive or negative—their quotes often were coupled with declarations of their military associa- tions; in these instances, relatives who had served in the military seemed to confer credibility. Articles using this frame often included discussion of what it means to be a patriot

while police brutality—the stated reason for Kaepernick’s protest—was an afterthought or forgotten entirely. For example, “The cover of the Oct. 3 issue of Time reads ‘The Perilous Fight’ followed by ‘National anthem protests led by Colin Kaepernick are fuel- ing a debate about privilege, pride and patriotism’” (Wagoner, 2016b, ¶4). The discus- sion evolved into a debate over the First Amendment. In an article in The Washington Post, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives president Perry Tarrant said, “Whether it’s the right way or otherwise, the conduct by Colin Kaepernick is a First Amendment right” (Jackman, 2016, ¶18). Even then-President (and former constitutional law professor) Barack Obama weighed in, noting, “Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, was ‘exercising his constitutional right’ by refusing to stand during the national anthem, a decision that has fostered considerable controversy since he first took the action on Aug. 26” (Victor, 2016, ¶1). By focusing on tangential elements—patriotism, the First Amendment, etc.—this frame served to distract and deflect from the core issue driving Kaepernick and his fellow protesters: police brutality and social justice.

Discussion

As demonstrated above, the protest paradigm held true for the media coverage through- out the first month of Kaepernick’s protest. The overwhelming focus on method over

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message served to provide the conflict derived from violent acts in other protests, demonizing Kaepernick and delegitimizing the movement through deflection and dis- traction. By framing stories around Kaepernick himself, presenting the nascent move- ment as being individual actions rather than part of a broader whole before having to acknowledge the virality of the protests, privileging official sources that have power and influence, and highlighting the professional risk that the athletes were facing, coverage managed to talk a whole lot about what Kaepernick and other athletes were doing and whether or not that was a “good” or “appropriate” thing, without having to engage in real discussions around race and social justice. This is unsurprising. As Kaufman (2008) noted,

Arguably, no issue is more explosive or more salient in sports than race. Race largely defines sport and yet, it seems as if the players, coaches, fans, and sports writers go to great lengths to avoid discussing it. Athletes like Ramogi Huma, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, and Craig Hodges refuse to be silent about the intersection of race and sports despite efforts to quiet them. Through their actions, they draw attention to how race impacts sports and society as a whole. (p. 233)

Despite this, Kaepernick and the men, women, and children who joined him in kneeling during the anthem or otherwise offered support persisted. They continued to protest, even in the face of widespread derision and the constant reframing of the pro- test to put their action against traditional American ideology as performed by the NFL (e.g., patriotism and exclusively pro-military celebrations), reinforcing that the mass media continue to be “core systems for the distribution of ideology” (Gitlin, 1980, p. 2). Ultimately, our findings indicate the media undermined the protesters’ efforts by

reinforcing the power structure, obscuring and conflating the core message at a pivotal point. This first month of protest offered a fairly unique opportunity to establish the parameters of the debate, and different media coverage—coverage that might have included reporters asking about social justice and police shootings during press confer- ences, rather than reactions to kneeling—could have led to a very different outcome. Despite the media’s refusal—whether conscious or unconscious, explicit or implicit—

to privilege the explicit message of Kaepernick’s protest and the ensuing movement, the spark took hold. The protest went viral and stayed in the public sphere for over a year after his initial decision to take a knee. Echoing what Andrews and Biggs (2006) found in their examination of the 1960s civil rights sit-in protests, the “the consequences of this protest wave can hardly be overstated” (p. 754). Unfortunately for Kaepernick, these protests continued without him on the field after no team signed him for the 2017 sea- son. As Kaufman (2008) noted, blacklisting can be a very real consequence for ath- lete activism. This work extends our understanding of the protest paradigm in two important ways.

First, this provides new evidence of the applicability of the paradigm when a protest movement is highly and closely identified with a single individual rather than an organ- ization or broader movement. Most of the extant research on the protest paradigm examine large-scale protests with thousands of people. In this case, we see the impact and consequence of being the person inextricably linked to a protest movement. This research further extends theory in this area by more specifically exploring the impact of a celebrity who uses their platform to lead a protest movement. Kaepernick became the

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face of anthem protests that happened around the world; coverage of those demonstra- tions inevitably linked those actions back to him. We believe understanding the impact of such a singular voice will be increasingly important moving forward, and this study provides an important step in building that knowledge. Second, this study extends theory by examining a specific case that is carefully

bounded: on the field, during the playing of the national anthem. This perspective dif- fers from protest movements that often are held in public spaces, sometimes resulting in violence and discord (which, as the protest paradigm tells us, becomes the focus of the story). Furthermore, the act itself was inherently peaceful. Although conflict was created in terms of evaluating the appropriateness and meaning of the method, the act itself was neither aggressive nor violent. As is the case in all studies, however, there are limitations. We are looking at cover-

age from one specific case and in one bounded period of time. It is important to con- sider how typical Kaepernick’s coverage is compared to other athletes engaging in protests of various types, including social justice. There also is value in expanding this analysis to include international news sources. Although the American media were over- whelmingly negative about Smith and Carlos’s protest during their medal ceremony during the 1968 Olympics, the international press tended to be more sympathetic to their cause (Peterson, 2009). An outside perspective may be useful here as well. We also look for the voices of women—specifically Black women—engaged in this movement to be lifted and foregrounded. The WNBA has been at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter protests, but their voices have not received nearly the mainstream attention that their male counterparts have. This is important to examine and unpack. Finally, we encourage other scholars to continue exploring the arena of sports as a site for protest and civic engagement. This space is one that generates attention from a diverse and widespread audience, and the power to shape narratives and discussion is considerable.

Conclusion

At the height of Kaepernick’s protest, multiple media outlets claimed he was ruining team unity and that the locker room was against him. Reporters and pundits questioned the wisdom of publicly putting himself on the line, insisting that Kaepernick was hurt- ing his team through his actions. These claims were undermined at the end of the sea- son, however, when the 49ers team voted to celebrate Kaepernick with the Len Eshmont award, described as the team’s “most prestigious annual honor, [given to] the 49ers player who best exemplifies the ‘inspirational and courageous play’ of Len Eshmont” (San Francisco 49ers, 2016). While he may have had the support of the locker room, it is increasingly unlikely

that Kaepernick will ever play in the NFL again. As Drew Magary wrote in Deadspin, “Because to think you can win ANY argument against the NFL is foolhardy. The league never changes. The machine always wins. And when football decides it doesn’t want you, there are no second chances. Honestly, I bet Kaepernick knew all this well before the rest of us did” (Magary, 2017, ¶12). Over two years after this protest began, Kaepernick still does not have a contract to play in the NFL. He has filed a lawsuit

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against the league, alleging collusion to keep him off the field in retaliation for his pro- tests (Maese, 2018, p. 1). As of this writing, his case is ongoing.

Notes

1. Although previous research by Boyle et al. (2012) has used language specific to public relations by referring to goals and tactics, we have opted here to use more general terms: method and message. Nothing in the way Kaepernick launched or talked about this protest indicates he had specifically defined public relations goals or tactics in mind, and thus assigning and using terms implying deliberate, strategic action does not seem to accurately reflect the situation under investigation.

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