Page 182 - An Introduction to Political Communication Fifth Edition

Intro to Politics Communication (5th edn)-p.qxp 9/2/11 10:55 Page 161

PRESSURE-GROUP POLITICS
eminently reasonable, sympathy-inducing public spokespersons, with gov-
ernment ministers frequently being made to appear miserly and brutal. On
the other hand, the violent picketing by print workers at Rupert Murdoch’s
Wapping newspaper plant in 1986 (much of it provoked by the police)
produced media images which were less than helpful in building public
support for the printers’ cause.
The impact of media management on the outcome of an industrial dispute
will never be as great as the environmental factors already referred to, such
as the level of unemployment, the political strength of a government and the
nature of legal constraints on unions’ collective action. However, in so far as
governments and employers must take public opinion into account when
pursuing such disputes (and that will depend on a range of factors) unions
have learnt that there is much to gain, and little to lose, by playing the media
2
game. The same applies to corporate actors, whether involved in industrial
disputes or other issues where the influence of public opinion may have a
bearing on policy. Corporate actors also pursue a less visible form of political
communication, behind the scenes. Political lobbying is today a huge industry
throughout the world, and especially in the US where hundreds of millions of
dollars are spent in the effort to influence legislators. Lobbying firms may be
employed to undertake this work, or companies may engage in their own
‘schmoozing’ of politicians, which can carry risks of adverse media and public
reaction. For example, when in 2006 the UK deputy prime minister John
Prescott was revealed to have accepted hospitality from a US-based company
with a known interest in securing lucrative gaming and casino contracts he
was widely criticised.
Lobbying is not the exclusive preserve of corporations, of course. Trade
unions and single-issue pressure groups also use these techniques to win
favour amongst political decision-makers. Rarely, however, do they have
access to the resources available to big business, a fact which has generated
much critical scrutiny of lobbying and its potentially corrupting impact on
the democratic process.

PRESSURE GROUPS

Trade unions may be viewed as ‘subordinate’ political actors in capitalist
societies, because it is their duty and function to represent the interests of
labour against those of capital. This frequently brings unions into conflict,
sometimes of a violent nature, with government and the repressive apparatus
of the state. Another form of subordinate organisation is the single-issue or
pressure group, which exists to campaign on a particular issue of special
importance such as protection of the environment. The pressure group, too,
will often find itself confronting established power, challenging positions
which are dominant. This they will typically do from a ‘resource poor’

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