ABSTRACT
This chapter explains that political protests are defined as being focused on bringing about some change and as being addressed to power institutions, elites, and other actors who have authority. It considers protesters to be motivated not only by political but also by economic, social, and cultural conditions. Journalists as members of urban civil society, not just as media professionals, were also involved in the protest actions. Both Russian and Chinese journalists were divided in their attitudes to political protest. The Russian journalists were much more divided on this issue than were Chinese journalists; the overwhelming majority of Chinese journalists were opposed to protests. While Russian journalists' attitudes differed by type of media ownership, this was not the case for Chinese journalists. Given the interplay between protests and media coverage, journalists in the BRICS study were asked about their attitude to protests. It was expected that attitudes would differ on these factors: personal, media, and geographical-urbanization.
