Page 187 - An Introduction to Political Communication Fifth Edition

Intro to Politics Communication (5th edn)-p.qxp 9/2/11 10:55 Page 166

COMMUNICATING POLITICS
such as Hurricane Katrina in the United States, drought in Africa and high
summer temperatures in Europe, have resulted in initiatives such as the
Kyoto treaty and international agreements to reduce carbon emissions. These
efforts are patchy, but that they have begun at all is in large part due to the
political communication efforts of environmental lobbyists in the preceding
decades. Following the global recession of 2008–9, and the failure of the
Copenhagen climate talks in December 2009, the environmental protection
campaign faltered, but few doubted that the issue would remain high on the
global political agenda.

Gay liberation
Another pressure group to achieve gains through media campaigning in the
1990s was the gay rights movement. In Britain, a variety of more or less
polite demonstrations secured such long overdue advances as the lowering
of the homosexual age of consent to sixteen in June 1998 and the repeal of
the infamous Section 28. (Introduced by the Thatcher government in the
1980s, this legislation prohibited local government from spending money
on the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality, including simple information and
education for young people about what homosexuality was and why it was
not an evil force.) Although the movement was divided between those, led
by such as Peter Tatchell, whose tactics included the staging of aggressive
demonstrations of ‘outing’ and pulpit-storming to secure media coverage
and others, led by such as Sir Ian McKellen, who preferred quiet lobbying
of politicians and media, in the end a combination of both approaches
achieved a real shift in public perceptions of gayness which, if it was less
than some activists wanted, was more than would have been achieved
without skilful use of the media as a platform for articulation of the gay
rights case.

Fuel and other protests
November 2000 saw a new kind of pressure group activity in Britain, when
a coalition of lorry drivers and agricultural workers began to blockade petrol
stations and refineries in protest at the high cost of fuel. As the protest grew,
and with it media coverage alerting Britain’s drivers to the growing problem,
shortages of petrol quickly developed and Britain’s roads emptied. For a few
days the serious possibility of Britain running out of petrol was in the air. In
the end the protests came to an end, but not before the government was
obliged to make major concessions on the future price of petrol. Again,
the media had been used as a potent channel for the dissemination of poli-
tical messages. Similar tactics of non-violent disruption were used by the
Countryside Alliance – a broad-based lobby group working to effect
government policy on rural issues such as hunting and agricultural subsidies.

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