Protest visibility does not control the frame

The passage tests the assumption that televised police violence will automatically produce sympathy for demonstrators. Activists in Chicago chanted that the whole world was watching, but many reports condemned the demonstrators instead of the police. Todd Gitlin argues that media does more than mirror reality because its selections and descriptions help create the public version of an event. A protest may depend on coverage to exist politically while remaining unable to control how that coverage defines it. This moment compares the tactical achievement of visibility with the larger strategic contest over legitimacy and interpretation.