Page 172 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

8

PRESSURE GROUP POLITICS
AND THE OXYGEN OF

PUBLICITY

The preceding two chapters were concerned with the communication
practices of the mainstream political parties as they seek to exert
influence over the political environment, public opinion, and
ultimately voting behaviour. But as Chapter 1 stressed, party
organisations are not the only political actors. On the margins of the
political mainstream exist a huge variety of organisations which
compete alongside the established parties for influence and political
efficacy. These organisations, like the parties, have been required to
learn the rules of the late twentieth-century media game, and to use
channels of mass communication to further their objectives.

THE SOCIOLOGY OF SOURCE STRATEGIES

By definition marginal political actors, operating outside of the
established institutions, stand at a disadvantage with respect to
mainstream parties, and government and official bodies. They are
relatively lacking in the resources which enable the latter to make
news and set public agendas. They are unlikely to have the access to
the sources of finance which are available to a major political party,
and thus to all the components of effective political communication
which money can provide: qualified professional and skilled creative
personnel, advertising and public relations material, etc. Neither will
they normally have access to the ‘cultural capital’ held by established
political actors—the credibility and authority which tends to accrue
to office holders and members of recognised elite groups. They are,
to use Edie Goldenberg’s phrase, ‘resource poor’ (1984). In Philip
Schlesinger’s terms, they lack ‘definitional power’ (1989).

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