An Unworthy Social Movement? An Evaluation of the Media Dependence Model and the News Media Performance of theNew York Timeson Vieques

This case study analyzes news coverage by The New York Times of an “unworthy” social movement, which opposed official U.S. Navy policy to continue its presence and training on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. Vieques represents an opportunity to elucidate and assess expectations of the media dependence model in relation to a case that involves changing policy positions effected by an unworthy social movement. The case study also evaluates the extent that the propaganda model by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, as well as the indexing model by W. Lance Bennett, are instructive in terms of news coverage of the efforts of the people of Vieques to evict the over 4-decade long presence of a major U.S. naval base.