2019 was called the “year of protest” as large-scale demonstrations broke out around the world. Demonstrations demanding action on climate change occurred across the globe; protests in Algeria and Sudan led to the fall of long-term regimes; protests in Hong Kong called for the withdrawal of the extradition bill; protests in Indonesia and India opposed government policies; and protests in the Middle East and Latin America arose against a backdrop of poverty and inequality—demonstrations erupted worldwide.

A protest in Australia demanding action on climate change (Photo: Julian Meehan / Flickr [CC BY 2.0])

Japanese media did report on the outbreaks of protests, but what many people most frequently saw through the media were scenes from the protests in Hong Kong. How much were other large-scale protests around the world in 2019 covered? Did coverage differ depending on the size and location of the protests? This article examines how protests that occurred in 2019 were reported, focusing mainly on television news.

Protests and the significance of coverage

What does “protest” refer to? Generally, it denotes collective activities in which residents or citizens make demands of the government and the like, or express support or opposition. Forms include marches, strikes, sit-ins, and blocking roads or building entrances. When they escalate, they can involve violence. Sometimes the demonstrators engage in violence; other times the government or police initiate it. Clashes can also occur between multiple protest groups with opposing views. As for where protests occur, they are not limited to specific places; actions can be coordinated domestically or globally, with protests held in multiple locations simultaneously.

So, what is the significance of reporting on protests around the world? Let’s consider the significance of coverage by dividing protests into those that occur domestically and those that occur abroad. First, for domestically occurring protests, the media can convey the will of citizens and residents to those in power and to institutions. Wherever a protest takes place, few people actually witness it firsthand; through reporting it reaches many people and the government. Protests become effective by being covered by the media.

What about protests that occur abroad? In reporting on protests abroad, the demonstrators and those conveying the scenes are not necessarily directly connected, so the significance of coverage may differ somewhat from that of domestic protests. In this case, three main points can be cited. First, events abroad can be related to domestic policy. For example, protests over climate change and the death penalty. These are major challenges shared by multiple countries. The existence of protests demanding action shows that citizens feel a sense of crisis, and there is value in carrying those voices across borders.

A protest in Lebanon blocking a bridge entrance so it can’t be crossed (Photo: Nadia Kobeissi/Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 4.0])

Second, some protests are large in themselves, or serve as catalysts for major political change. For example, the protests in Algeria and Sudan in 2019 led to the fall of long-standing regimes in both countries. When major political change arises from protests, it is an important development with indirect relevance even if it is not directly related to one’s own country diplomatically and the like. Such “big” events that bring about significant change, in other words, merit coverage as news.

Third, even when something is not directly tied to one’s own policies, reporting that similar protests are occurring in multiple countries helps grasp global trends. In 2019, demonstrations demanding livelihood security erupted mainly in Latin America, the Middle East, and North Africa. Such protests are voices against deteriorating economic conditions, revealing a global trend of demanding action on inequality and poverty. This is not someone else’s problem for high-income countries far removed from where these protests occur. High-income countries indirectly influence these issues—by, for example, exacerbating global inequality and poverty—and will eventually feel their effects.

Scale of the protests

From here, let’s look more closely at the large-scale protests that occurred around the world in 2019.

First, we compare the scale of protests by the number of participants and victims. As with the climate protests or the demonstrations in Algeria, protests are often held multiple times over a long period. Participant counts often reflect organizers’ figures, which can exceed the actual number who took part. Accordingly, the numbers here are rough estimates; in this article we compare the approximate turnout at the largest single event for each protest movement. In fact, the largest protests in 2019 were those demanding action on climate change. They took place in 125 countries, and the largest occurred around the UN Climate Action Summit in September, with an estimated 4 million participants. Next in scale were the protests in Algeria, with about 3 million participants. The third-largest were the protests in Hong Kong, where up to about 2 million people joined a demonstration in June.

Scenes from the protests in Hong Kong (Photo: Studio Incendo/Flickr [CC BY 2.0])

Focusing on deaths and arrests, the toll from the protests in Iran and Iraq is considered heavy. In Iran, about 200,000 people took part and at least 7,000 were arrested. The death toll is put at roughly 1,500. In Iraq, 2,800 people were arrested and 669 were said to have been killed.

What the protests are demanding

Let’s consider the 2019 protests through the lens of what they were demanding. Some protests are held for a single purpose, but in other cases a movement begins with one demand and, as it develops, adds others. Even within the same protest, individuals may have different demands. It is often difficult to reduce the demands to a single item, so multiple demands are sometimes presented together.

Against a backdrop of worsening economic conditions, poverty, and inequality, protests demanding relief from price hikes on essentials and improvements in quality of life broke out in multiple countries. Chile saw protests sparked by an increase in subway fares, which grew into large-scale unrest resulting in deaths, opposing low wages and higher prices for necessities. Similarly, Ecuador abolished fuel subsidies, causing prices to rise and triggering demonstrations against the cut. In Iraq, people demanded measures against unemployment and better public services, and also protested political corruption. In Colombia, demonstrations arose amid a worsening unemployment rate, with continued protests against government corruption and calls to uphold the terms of the peace agreement. In France, protests continued against a fuel tax hike and pension reform.

Troops deployed to protests in Chile (Photo: Dennis Jarvis/Flickr [CC BY-SA 2.0])

In protests rooted in poverty and inequality, while demanding better living standards, people also sometimes call for the resignation of governments that refuse to respond. In Lebanon, amid an economic crisis, protests erupted after taxes were imposed on apps and gasoline, among other things. There were also demonstrations against political corruption. As the protests progressed, demands expanded to include not only policy changes but also the resignation of the prime minister. Similarly, in Haiti, fuel shortages and political corruption triggered protests for improvement that gradually shifted to calls for the president to step down. Elsewhere, protests in Iran against fuel price hikes and in Egypt over rising prices also led to calls for the resignation of governments that failed to respond to demands.

In addition, in non-democratic countries such as Algeria and Sudan, large-scale protests demanded both the resignation of national leaders and democratization.

Some protests sought to change or repeal policies. Hong Kong saw massive demonstrations over the proposed amendment to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, which would have allowed suspects to be extradited to mainland China. Not only in Hong Kong but elsewhere, protests continued opposing government policies or seeking changes. In India, demonstrations were held over the Citizenship Amendment Act, a law granting citizenship to migrants from three neighboring countries but denying it to Muslims among them, raising issues of religious discrimination and sparking protests. In Indonesia, citizens continued protests against legislation that would weaken the powers of the anti-corruption commission.

There were also many cross-border, global protest actions on environmental issues. The demonstrations demanding action on climate change known as “Fridays for Future” are a representative example. While they began in 2018, throughout 2019 such protests calling for measures against global warming were held in cities in 125 countries.

Former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir (Photo: Al Jazeera English/Flickr [CC BY-SA 2.0])

Changes brought about by the protests

Next, we introduce changes that resulted from the protests.

In some countries, protests led to the resignation of national leaders. In Bolivia, demonstrations against fraud in the presidential election culminated in an effective coup linked to the protests, leading to the resignation of President Evo Morales. In Lebanon, protests expressing opposition to corruption and policies taxing essentials forced Prime Minister Saad Hariri—accused of responsibility for corruption and the economic crisis—to step down. In Algeria, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who had been in office for 20 years, left the presidency as a result of the protests. However, because the existing political apparatus continued to hold power, protests demanding democratization persisted. In Sudan, protests calling for the departure of President Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled for 30 years, were followed by a military coup that ousted him. Yet a military-led political system was established afterward, and protests demanding democratization continued.

Hong Kong’s protests are a case where policy was changed. In response to the protests, the Chief Executive resigned, and ultimately the amendment to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance was withdrawn. Furthermore, in Chile, the expansion of protests led to the cancellation of hosting the 25th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP25) and the APEC summit in Chile.

Volume of coverage of protests

We have reviewed the reality that protests occurred worldwide. Were such protest activities reported? Because video conveys the scenes and intensity of protests better than text, this article analyzes television news, which can deliver news through footage. We examined Nippon TV (hereafter NTV) newscasts from January 1 to December 31, 2019, to assess coverage of protests. We tallied international news items whose headlines included protest-related keywords (Note 1) and in which the public made demands of those in power or expressed opposition. Over the course of 2019, there were 223 protest-related news items in total. Which protests were covered among them? The pie chart below (Note 2) shows how much coverage protests in each country or region received.

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About 70% of the coverage—159.5 items—concerned the protests in Hong Kong. Even the next most-covered protests, those in South Korea, accounted for only 12 items, highlighting the overwhelming dominance of Hong Kong-related stories. In South Korea, there were protests against Japan’s tightened export controls on South Korea.

Why was there so much coverage of the Hong Kong protests? Four reasons come to mind. First, the protests concerned issues involving Hong Kong and mainland China, with which Japan has deep ties. Beyond geographical proximity, Japan is closely connected with Hong Kong and China in areas such as trade, travel, and security. Second, the protests lasted a long time. The amendment to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance was proposed in February 2019; demonstrations against it began in March and escalated into mass protests in June. They continued even into December, likely increasing coverage. Third, the scale was large: the biggest event drew about 2 million people. Clashes between protesters and police also resulted in deaths. Fourth, it was easy for news crews to access. NTV has long had bureaus in China and Hong Kong, which kept the cost of extended newsgathering low, making it easier to obtain footage from Hong Kong and thereby boosting coverage.

South Korea and Russia, which had the next-highest levels of coverage after Hong Kong, also have deep ties with Japan—likely a factor in their being featured more than other protests. In South Korea there were demonstrations opposing Japan’s tightening of export controls, and in Russia there were protests over the Northern Territories and the city council election, among others, so they received relatively more coverage. However, because the protests in South Korea and Russia were more temporary and smaller in scale, their coverage was less than that of Hong Kong.

Problems with bias in coverage

What about countries other than Hong Kong, South Korea, and Russia? Some also fit the four reasons that led to abundant coverage of Hong Kong. The protests demanding action on climate change arguably relate to Japan even more than those in Hong Kong did, yet they made the news only seven times (Note 3)—an overwhelmingly small amount compared to Hong Kong. Japan is both affected by climate change and, on the other hand, one of the major contributors to it. Climate change has already brought major shifts worldwide, including in Japan—global warming, more frequent extreme weather, and large-scale forest fires—posing an existential crisis for humanity. Climate protests have been held in Tokyo as well. Considering this, climate change is highly and substantively relevant. As for duration, such protests took place around the world throughout 2019. In terms of scale too, the climate protests were held in 125 countries and are considered among the world’s largest protest actions, with roughly 4 million participants.

A 2011 protest in Egypt calling for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak (Photo: Jonathan Rashad/Wikipedia [CC BY 2.0])

There were only two news items on the Sudan protests that toppled a long-term regime, and zero on the protests in Algeria—the world’s second largest by turnout. In Algeria and Sudan, presidents who had held power for many years were forced to resign, and afterward, large-scale protests demanding democratization and fundamental change to the political system continued for an extended period. The movement was even dubbed a “second Arab Spring.” The “Arab Spring” that occurred in Middle Eastern and Arab countries from 2010 to 2012 toppled dictatorships in four nations and was a democratization movement that had a major impact on the world, including Japan. Yet Japanese coverage of the Arab Spring in 2010 was slow to respond and displayed country-by-country bias in what was covered. The developments in Algeria and Sudan also share aspects of the Arab Spring, have significant global diplomatic implications, and are highly relevant to regional peace and energy resources; they therefore merit coverage to grasp major global trends.

Coverage of protests related to poverty and inequality was also very limited. Fueled by dissatisfaction with economic conditions and poverty, protests erupted around the world, especially in Chile, Ecuador, Haiti, Colombia, Lebanon, and Iran. The deterioration of economic conditions and the emergence of poverty and inequality in such countries stem not only from domestic issues but also from major international problems such as illicit financial flows and unfair trade. These are global issues in which Japan is implicated and which will eventually affect it as well. Isn’t it a core role of the media to carry the public’s calls for redress of these problems to those in power, including governments around the world?

We have seen that a variety of protests took place around the world in 2019, and it is clear that coverage of them was uneven. Yet protests are expressions of citizens’ will directed at those in power. When protests occur and are reported, it becomes possible both to grasp global trends and to carry people’s demands across borders to governments and other authorities. Surveying the world, sensing its movements, and conveying them is a major role of the media.

Note 1: We counted items whose headlines included the keywords “demonstration,” “strike,” “boycott,” “riot,” “clash,” “rally,” “protest,” “traffic obstruction (service disruption),” “backlash,” “turmoil,” “calls for,” or “mobilization.”

Note 2: Countries were categorized by where the protest occurred. The “Global” category counts climate protests held around the world that were not attributed to a specific country name.

Note 3: We counted a total of seven items—five in the “Global” category of the pie chart and two on climate protests held only in the UK.

Writer: Saki Takeuchi

Graphics: Saki Takeuchi

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