From Parkland to Nashville: an analysis of knowledge and framing activities in Reddit discussions surrounding news coverage of guns in the United States

AbstractThis research explores discussions surrounding news stories on r/news after two separate school shooting events in 2018 and 2023 to understand how and when variables related to knowledge exchange and framing emerge in context. These activities were found to be an antecedent to engagement, and exchanges of disagreement resulted in longer chains of discussion. ‘Metaframing’ was found to be linked to media distrust. Users in 2023 were far more ideologically aligned and shared knowledge more frequently, but cited sources less frequently, than in 2018. Implications for impacts of news, disagreement, and content moderation on online civic discourse are offered.