Environmental protest and tap-dancing with the media in the information age

Abstract

Environmental politics and values gain legitimacy through their constant presence in the media. This article outlines and critiques a theoretical approach that can increase understanding of the relationship between environmental protest and news media representation. Manuel Castells, pre-eminent theorist of the information age and 'the network society', is useful in this regard. He describes the relationship between media organizations and environmentalists as 'tap-dancing'. His explanation of this dance and its choreography, however, is overly general, ignoring its specific features and workings in terms of representation. In order to detail some of these features, we have selected for study Australia's most famous environmental protest and a globally significant moment for green politics: the 1982 Franklin Dam blockade in Tasmania. We argue that it was during this blockade that an enduring pattern of media environmentalist relations was established in Australia, and substantiate this case by examining subsequent protests. The article concludes by critiquing current understandings of media environmentalist relations and explains the dynamics of the mediation process that determines the reporting of protests.

Unravelling the Threads: Discourses of Sustainability and Consumption in an Online Forum

“…al., 2004). Particular attention has been paid to the ways in which those involved in environmental social movements use (both offline and online) media to frame their understandings and practices for publics (Anderson, 1997;Hansen, 1993;Hutchins & Lester, 2006;Kahn & Kellner, 2005;Lester & Hutchins, 2009). While there have been a number of studies on the intersections of the internet and environmental social movements, few have addressed the tensions and paradoxes of "sustainability" as a broadly deployed discourse with respect to consumption more generally, nor how the meanings of such a fraught discourse is constructed via forms of new media.…”

Citizen Journalism

“…Cottle (2008) has noted the extent to which protest groups and demonstrators have become 'reflexively conditioned' to get their message across and activate public support. The contemporary news media environment offers 'new political opportunities for protest organizations, activists and their supporters to communicate independently of mainstream news media ' (ibid: 853;DeLuca and Peeples 2002;Hutchins and Lester 2006;Maratea 2008;McCaughey and Ayers 2003). Protesters are aware that their activities have to compete proactively for space in the fast-moving, issue-based attention cycle that defines the 24-7 news mediasphere (Oliver and Maney 2000).…”

Leadership and change in the Tasmanian environment movement

“…16 key EMO and Green politicians are clearly influential environmentalists within the movement. They are also frequently sought out by journalists and therefore comprise the public faces of the environmental movement (Hutchins & Lester 2006). The five informants were then interviewed and asked to identify other influential Tasmanian environmentalists.…”