This study used content and textual analysis of four newspapers—the Bangkok Post, The Nation, Thai Rath and Matichon––between 1 November 2013 and the general election on 2 February 2014 to examine how they framed the Thai political crisis. The content analysis produced six dominant frames, namely, democracy, chaos (or anarchy), violence, social injustice, public disapproval and negative impact. Through these frames, the textual analysis portrayed how the elected government struggled to defend democracy as opposition protesters mounted civil disobedience and Bangkok shutdown campaigns to put pressure on it.