From Twitter to X: Fox News and MSNBC Coverage of Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover

• In Event: Media and Political Attitudes

Abstract

“The bird is freed”, is how Elon Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” and one of the world's wealthiest billionaires, portrayed his takeover of Twitter via a tweet on his newly owned platform. After months of corporate and legal interactions with Twitter’s board of directors that stirred widespread controversy, Musk acquired Twitter for roughly 44 billion dollars, making him the sole owner of one of the most influential social media platforms and what was previously a publicly traded company. As reactions diverged between those concerned about Musk’s vague “free speech” agenda and others who expressed congratulations, relief, or pleasure, it was momentous to investigate the media coverage of the ensuing events and the factors that might have influenced its coverage.

The U.S. cable television scene is becoming increasingly polarized, with partisanship as a driving force for the networks whose business model aims to attract and maintain polarized audiences by highlighting the competition deficiencies instead of the issues they cover. This phenomenon particularly manifests in their coverage of controversial political issues of public opinion. While previous studies investigated social-media-related controversies that emerged in the last few years (e.g., mis/disinformation during Brexit, the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, and COVID-19), there is scarce literature exploring mass media coverage of social networks and big tech acquisitions.

Given this scholarly gap, the lengthy controversial span of Musk’s takeover, his initial premise/promise of Twitter as a “de facto public town square”, and conflicting reactions to the deal, I explore how the U.S. media framed the event to construct the public’s opinion of the takeover in a polarized and partisan media scene. Through the lens of Framing theory and using thematic analysis, I dissect the dominant frames in Fox News’s and MSNBC’s coverage of the takeover to reveal how two cable news networks at each end of the U.S. political spectrum constructed the public’s perception of the event. Moreover, I explore the connection between the two networks’ ideology and business model on one hand and their framing of the takeover on the other.

A random sample of videos from MSNBC and Fox News primetime shows was accessed and selected from their YouTube channels spanning April and May 2022 to reflect the coverage of Musk becoming the biggest Twitter shareholder and, later, his bid to buy the platform. The analysis revealed that the takeover was covered in both networks within the context of “free speech” which Musk announced was his purpose for buying the platform. However, each channel constructed its coverage within different frames for its audience. Fox News framed the takeover in an “Us vs. Them” frame that depicted a conflict between the conservatives and Republicans as the “censored” on one front and the Democrats and the liberals as the “censors” on the other, whereas Elon Musk was framed as the “Genius Superhero” who would “level the playing field”. On the other hand, MSNBC framed their coverage in a “Words Have Consequences” frame that raised concerns about Musk’s unrestricted “free speech” agenda that could have negative consequences on online discourse, framing Elon Musk as an “Eccentric Billionaire” who is unpredictable and inexperienced.

The findings also suggest that within the cognitive and cultural context of the much-contested “free speech” concept, Fox News and MSNBC opted to frame their coverage in value-loaded frameworks to create a mental image in the public’s perception that connected the takeover to democracy and the American society stability. This framing assumed different interpretive packages that were significantly influenced by the networks’ ideology and business model that aims to provide their partisan audience with even more polarizing content. The findings indicate a significant connection between the adopted ideologies of the audiences on one hand and the cable television networks on the other since the outlets' framing is substantially influenced by their ideology and a business model that caters to ideologically polarized audiences. Nevertheless, given the long history of partisanship in the U.S. and the increasingly polarized nature of cable television, it is hard to discern whose ideology is influencing whose.

Thus, I argue that while each channel constructed the takeover using different frames, they used the event as a heated ideological battleground where they had designated an “enemy” as the target of their criticism. This study adds to the literature studying the legacy media coverage of the increasingly controversial/influential social media platforms and big tech mergers and acquisitions. It also contributes to the discussion of media political economy and the inter dynamics between politics, power, ideology, business models, media content, and public opinion.

Author

• Zahraa Badr, University of Southern California