So, now that we have established what an outsider group is, we need to understand how it manages to communicate its policies and get its issues raised on the public agenda. The public agenda is a crowded place for issues, and time and space is extremely hard to come by. Hansen says that ‘the mass media constitute a key public arena in which voices, definitions and claims-makers, are put on public display and compete with each other for legitimacy.’ Pressure groups, particularly those of outsider origin, represent a significant channel by which public representations can therefore be made. Outsider groups have the advantage of what baggot entitled a ‘growth reflecting the rising levels of affluence over the post-war period.’ Because prosperity and wealth has become more apparent, material needs have been pushed aside, and issues of quality of life has become more apparent. But the problem with outsider groups is because they are generally radical groups, they operate outside of government jurisdication, so to get their message across, they must utilise the media, as a platform for their issues. Baggot said that ‘the difference between them is that insider groups are viewed as legitimate by government and are consulted on a regular basis, while outsider groups either do not wish to become involved in a consultative relationship or cannot secure recognition.’ While insider groups can claim legitmicy and command attention, two of the important steps in successful claims making which Solesbury stated, their nature of work seems to become to influenced, and their relative autonomous status becomes somewhat fazed. It restricts them from indulging in certain strategies that might otherwise be used and be effective in whatever their specific interests might be. So outsider groups have advantages in claims making processes, where they can show a degree of framing the situation, in such a way that can they can command the neccesary attention, they can invoke action, through the neccesary channels (the media) and claim legitmacy, as they try to represent a good cause. Greenpeace is a perfect example of how successful an outsider group can be, of framing an event in such a way, as to acheive the success of communicating its media and public strategies with relative success.
According to its website Greenpeace is ‘Greenpeace is a non-profit organisation’, () who strive to use various strategies and techniques to achieve its goals and objectives. ‘Its a non-political, politcal organization, that makes sense of itself and the world in which it operates, therefore not being an ideological resource.’(Eyerman, jamieson: 1989). They do not believe in complying to listed and laid down set of doctrines, they are part and parcel of the problem and solution. Their organisation allows the flexibility of changing situations according to how they see fit, therefore stopping government organisations from pigeon holing their activities. The case of brent spar occured in the summer months of 1995, in respones to the government giving persmission to Shell to dump a large redundant oil storage installation out into the north sea. ‘The pressure group succceded in drawing the attention of the media and the public to an issue which had hitherto commanded very little media and public interest.’ (Hansen: p57). Solesbury’s first task in successful claims making, is that of commanding attention. Greenpeace were therefore successful, because they were able to present the situation in a stunning manner, but showing visually the incident and disseminanating selective information to the public. Their successful claims making was based on presenting some some sort of scientific discourse, in gaining support to stop Shell from dumping the redundant oil installsations. Eyerman and Jamieson noted strategic gathering and dissemination of information was vital their whole claims making ability as ‘Without strategic information, its campaigns would be merely media shows and they would long ago have stopped making news. It is the gathering of campaign related facts, the selective dissemination of arguemtns to the media and other public fora, the selecetive testimony at hearings and conferences and international meetings that gives Greepeace its enormous influence’ So we now turn our attentions to the role and importance of the media for outsider groups in successfully disseminating their campaign and policy strategies to the public, what outsider groups need from the media to ensure their success, and very importantly, their survival.
The role of the media and media coverage is without a doubt of key importance to outsider groups. They depend on media coverage for two things in particular: that is for recruiting new members, and promoting their ideas and causes. For outisider groups the media seems like the only outlet, to which they can use, as they are not consulted on issues on the public agenda by the government. They need to promote their ideas and assumptions, by getting the media publicity to change legislation in government policy making. Membership although not the most important, is nevertheless vital in their success to communicate their policies and strategies. A large membership however loose it might be, can help justify actions that occur. Mass demonstrations like those against fox hunting, have proved to be very successful when legitimising a change in legislation. On the bbc news website it reported that ‘Thousands of protesters are gathering near the Labour Party's conference in Bournemouth to stage a mass demonstration against the government's plans to ban fox hunting.’ Blair then had to promise a vote on ending hunting. The finacial aid as well, that comes in forms of donations through members is important and the media help in assertating more members, because the outsider groups can effectively advertise its campaigns through them. With insider groups, a lot of their funding comes from industy and the government. The BMA (British medical association) are examples of insider groups with close links to government and insdustry. They can get involved in negotiations without the need for a public platform to do it. Becuase outsider groups are not an intergral part of design making, they depend the public stage to articulate their claims. So, how do outsider groups use the media in influencing coverage, and is it possible to categorize this? Grant highlighted six distinct categories. They were ‘visibility, information, climate, reactive reponse, infleunce and content.’ Grant said ‘Visinility refers to the use of the media to establish a presence, and to recruit and retain members. The Aberdeen group’s data shows that of the members of friends of the surveyed 23.6 per cent joined after seeing a press/media campaign.’ Eyerman and Jamieson also noticed this when mentioning about greenpeace, in that they ‘were more interested in disseminating information and publicity, in catching attention, then inproducing knowledge.’ The use of television stunts, and strong visual effects, helped to bring forth and change legislation, as images are thoguht provoking and often strike a cord with the general public. With these images, these organizations were able to develop a ‘proactive approach towards generating public sympathy and political support. Television had become increasingly important source of information about politics and was seens as a powerful means of infleuciong public opinion ‘ (Anderson 2000). This is the best way to command attention and claim legitmacy. By visually appealing to your audience, and by making some logical sense of the argument, public sympathy and support will soon follow. Grant also talked about how media can also be a source of information for pressure groups, particularly those of outside status, ‘the trade press can unwittingly reveal clues about what a particular firm or undustry is doing.’ This can inadvertantly tip off outsider groups to take action, and give them an edge in justifying their approach to the situation, when information like that could well easily be hidden from the public eye. Climate is the third categorization of media use by outsider groups. Although pressure groups might seek on influening informed opinons, they must attempt to build on this, and secure the long term efforts of the campaigning as long as it needs to be alive for. ‘Through their background campaigns, environmental groups in general have enhanced their public image and generated a climate of opinion sympathetic to environmental protection.’ (Lowe and Goyder: 1983). The fourth catergorization involves reactive response. Grant said ‘Reactive responses is neccesary when a news story emerges that is potentially threatening to a group’s concerns or activites. Sometimes an organization may have to react to an unfavourable story.’ Sometimes, groups can be placed in a situation, where they have to respond to criticisms about their campaign, or strategies they are employing in lobbying for a change in legislation. Normally through television interviews, or writing to the press in repsonse to those criticisms, can help them maintain what they would hope would be a successful campaigning, in lobbying their policies. ‘Using the media as a means of exerting infleunce on government is clearly important. Of course ministers are not ususally going to change their policies because of a newspaper editoral or citical television programme, however a sudden devlopment of campaign in the media may catch them offguard and oblige them to respond.’(Grant). Certainly in the case of brent spar, where newspaper coverage from the daily mail and mirror portrayed them in a very heroic manner, and highlighting their cause in a positive light, the government and Shell were forced to abandon plans of dumping the toxic waste at the site. As a further argument to this Grant importantly noted that ‘media attention may help to move a problem up the political agenda.’ And finally, ‘Pressure groups may lobby the media directly and attempt to influence the content of its output’(Grant). Attmepting to disseminate some of their ideology into programmes may get their poliices up and running. The line between reality and fiction in programmes so becoming blurry, and getting the message across, targering programmes that recieve good audience ratings, is an extremely clever way of further legitmising outsider policies that are currently being campaigned on. In recent times, though there has been an increasing limitation for outsider groups in using the media. Certainly in the case of Brent Spar, Greenpeace admitted to presenting inaccurate information about the severity and quantity of oil on board the oil rig. In this way, tv journalists are feeling they are being manipulated by pressure groups, and it may eventually destroy them.
So, adjudging from the evidence, its seems that outsider groups do seek to influence and managae media so as to communicate their strategies and policies in an effective manner., Just by the very defintion of thw word ‘outsider,’ these groups can not exert political pressure directly, because they have little involvment with government organisations that can help them to implement decisions. They are not part of the decision making process, so the media is prehaps their only form of aid in exerting influence on such a scale, that government will have to relent, and allow for a change or at least a rethink to legislation. We have seen several ways in which outsider groups attempt to influence decision making, and how they have attempted to influence the media, using various strategies. Most notably, under the six fomrs that Grant (2000) stated. Visibility- By producing strking images, and framing the even in such a way, that people take action, as a source of Information- to alert them to what other frims and industries are doing, climate- in terms of sustaining a favuorable climate to which they can continue to pursue their claims in an active manner, reactive response- using th media to establish and explain reasons for conducting the way they go about setting communication strategies, exerting influence through media so as to change policies, and influenceing media content. So Media coverage is most vital in helping to promote their campaign, as its provides a legitimate platform to which they can demonstrate their actions and justify why they do certain things.
Bibliography
Grant, W. (2000). Pressure groups and British politics. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Ryan, C. (1991). Prime time activism: media strategies for grassroots organizing.
Boston, MA: South End Press.
Baggott, R. (1995). Pressure groups today. Manchester: Manchester University
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Eyerman, R., & Jamison, A. (1989). Environmental knowledge as an organizational
Weapon: the case of Greenpeace. Social Science Information, 28(1), 99-119.
Cracknell, J. (1993). Issue arenas, pressure groups and environmental agendas. In A.
Hansen (Ed.), The Mass Media and Environmental Issues, (pp. 3-21). Leicester:
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Hansen, A. (2000). Claims making and Framing in British Newspaper Coverage of
the Brent Spar Controversy. In S. Allan, B. Adam, & C. Carter (Eds.),
Environmental Risks and the Media (pp. 55-72). London: Routledge.
Websites possibly in use for ms3012 essay
Tutor 2u
British Politics Index
Fishman
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Greenpeace
BBC website