Framing the Trial of Binayak Sen: The Intersection of Procedural Justice, Distributive Justice, Legitimacy, and Collective Action Framing

Abstract

In 2007, the Chhattisgarh state government in India arrested Binayak Sen, a pediatrician and human rights activist, and charged him with sedition in relation to his prison visits of a jailed Maoist leader. The Indian media extensively covered Sen‘s case, sparking a social movement, the Free Binayak Sen Campaign. This research explored how Sen‘s case was framed in two national Indian newspapers, The Hindu and The Times of India. In contrast to previous research, it was found that citations of Sen‘s supporters outnumbered citations from state authorities and the prosecution. This study also found that procedural justice and legitimacy were important components of the diagnostic collective action frame. Mentions of distributive justice were less salient and central to defining the nature of the problem. In addition, the collective action frames of prognosis and motivation were less prominent in the news articles.

Keywords

Social movement / framing / procedural justice / diagnostic collective action frame / Indian newspapers

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