Mass protest. Chaotic Message? The interaction between the Spanish Indignados movement and the mass-media

In May 2011, thousands of outraged citizens (i.e. the indignados) occupied the squares of the main Spanish cities to express their discontent and claim for reforms. This article investigates via Twitter messages the ability of the 15-M movement to place their claims into the media agenda and to keep ownership of their own discourse. The analysis emphasizes the fact that the social movement originated in the Internet with a highly decentralized structure and with scarce organizational resources. Results show that protesters discourse included a great number of claims, although the activists focused their discussions on three specific issues: electoral and party systems, democracy and governance, and finally, civil liberties. Moreover, the study reveals that the indignados managed to keep control over their repertoires and were able to determine the media agenda despite the later mainly focused on the most dramatic events.