Social protest and the media

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Social protest and the media
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Social protest in a democracy

• Protest is considered crucial to a vital, working
  democracy
• The 1st Amendment protects the right of the
  people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
  Government for a redress of grievances
• Protest generates an ongoing public critique and
  debate that is vital for the working of the
  self-righting process

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• Those without ready access to--or power
  over--government must turn to other means than
  direct communication.
• Only a few, powerful groups can command face time
• In years past, the most common means was to work
  through the political party
• Decline and professionalization of political
  parties

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Taking the critique public

• Though public protest has been around longer than
  the Republic, modern public protest was pioneered
  during the civil rights movement, as African
  Americans whose interests had been ignored took
  to the streets
• Sit-ins
• Mass marches
• Protests
• Televised coverage forced acknowledgement of the
  American Dilemma
• Sometimes brutal police reaction caught on tape

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Expansion of the protest strategy

• The success of the civil rights movement led
  others to adopt similar strategies and tactics by
  other groups
• Left
• Anti-war protesters
• Feminists
• Animal rights activists
• Globalization protesters
• Right
• Anti-abortion groups
• School prayer activists
• Pro-war demonstrators

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Role of the press/media

• Most protests cannot be successful if they are
  ignored by the media and therefore isolated
• Only likely to have a significant impact on those
  immediately present
• Oppositional messages carried widely in the
  press/on television, etc. will widen the field
  of conflict

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Agenda setting

• If the press covers social protest it may force
  the topic of protest onto the larger public
  agenda
• Race relations
• Concerns about the environment
• (To some extent) feminism
• Vietnam war (and other military excursions)
• HIV/AIDS

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Most protest is ignored by the media

• Public protest is a very common occurrence
• Limited media space/time/interest
• Some protest is not deemed worthy of coverage
• Some is offensive to journalists, who will be
  less likely to cover it
• Some does not fit a definition of news
• Recurrent actions of groups who regularly engage
  in public protest on a given topic

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How do protesters generate news coverage?

• To get in the papers, protesters must act in a
  newsworthy fashion
• Interaction between protest groups and the press
  is a form of exchange
• (Gamson Wolfsfeld, 1993)
• Protesters get access to wider public
• Press gets raw materials for stories

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Ways to be newsworthy

• Sensationalism
• Social impact

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Sensationalism Violent actions

• Hurting or killing someone else

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Hurting or killing yourself

• Much more common

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Confronting authority and having them hurt or
kill you
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Strident rhetoric
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How protesters generate news coverage

• Dress funny, look funny (Mohawk, etc.)
• Do interesting things like smashing tvs or
  burning flags
• Puppets, street theater
• Challenge government leaders on important issues
  of the day
• Show up where the press will be anyway
• More likely to bring coverage in the event of
  disagreement among Senators, etc.

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How protesters get coverage

• Get a really large group to show up
• Million Man March
• Have something truly important and powerful to
  say that has not been said by a member of
  government or powerful business group, etc.
• Though this is less of a guarantee than many
  other options like those above
• Use good soundbites to make a point when you are
  interviewed
• Organize to accommodate the press

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The Devils Bargain

• Most of the spectacular or odd behavior draws
  attention, but simultaneously generates criticism
  -- bad press
• Focus will be on the protest tactics rather than
  on the critique of policy or government or
  whatever that the group is trying to advance

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Larger questions of framing and ideology

• News values usually draw attention to
  confrontation
• Confrontation is most often with police rather
  than with government policymaking officials
• Police are given the opportunity to speak to
  balance protesters statements

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Framing

• 5 frames in anarchist protest study
• Circus
• Riot
• Confrontation
• Legitimate protest
• Debate (alternative protest only)

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Normal news tendency

• Support status quo
• Regardless whether protest is liberal or
  conservative
• Focus on violence
• When violence is missing, focus on lack of
  violence or note violence in another protest
• Go for the sensational
• Any available conflict
• Disruption of normal life
• Weird-looking people
• Weird behavior

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News tendencies

• Focus on actions rather than meanings
• Careful review of the route taken for the march
• Find other side
• Often police
• Bystanders who disagree
• Anti-protesters
• Rarely actual officials being criticized
• Do not go into depth in explaining protesters
  position

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Objectivity

• 1. Factuality
• a. Truth
• veracity of account (getting the facts straight)
• b. Relevance
• inclusion of important facts, people, ideas,
  actions and exclusion of unimportant facts, etc.

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Objectivity

• 2. Impartiality
• a. Balance/non-partisanship equal time, equal
  coverage for balance.
• non-partisanship is parallel, but relaxes equal
  treatment to pursue relevance
• b. Neutrality
• report does not slant representation of
• contending parties (pejorative terms, etc.)

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Why should protesters even deal with the press?

• Many despair and do not
• What news coverage can do
• Widen the audience for their views
• However, views are rarely express on-air in a way
  that will generate adherents
• Make clear that policy is not riding on consensus
• Easier to do and also very important
• Spiral of Silence
• Emboldens opposition within government

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What the press can do for protesters

• Press coverage provides legitimacy to certain
  groups
• Usually wimp groups who havent got the guts to
  break a window ?
• For dispersed groups, gives a feeling that they
  are not alone
• Energize protesters through the feeling that
  their actions are being noticed
• Builds a foundation for continued action and
  communication through other means
• Social movements

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How the press can hurt protest groups

• Define them as violent/dangerous
• Focus on conflict, etc.
• Define them as crazy
• Define their viewpoint as illegitimate, outside
  consensus
• Strategic use of bystanders, etc.
• Bring up all sorts of oppositional comment
• Legitimize opposition
• Declare public opinion to be in opposition to the
  group
• Ignore them