Hierarchies of Incredibility: The impact of different repertoires of protest on message propagation and press coverage JONATHAN CABLE School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University
[email protected] Keywords: activism; protest tactics; media strategies; political communication; social movements; political opportunities; collective action frames Author Biography: Jonathan Cable works at Cardiff University where he completed his PhD in Journalism Studies in July 2012. His research examined the impact of the media and protest tactics of three different protest groups, and the affect these tactics had on their ability to publicise their messages and succeed and fail in their stated objectives. He’s since worked on several different projects such the BBC Trust funded project investigating impartiality across news outlets. Journalism and Discourse Studies www.JDSjournal.net Volume 1 - Issue 1 ISSN 2056-3191 @JDSJournal Jonathan Cable P a g e | 2 Abstract This paper examines the tactical repertoires of three particular protest groups and how their internal objectives and decision making processes impacted upon their protest tactics and press coverage. The three groups cover a range of topics and used very different protest tactics, from a non-confrontational community campaign to a series of symbolic direct actions, and a mass demonstration. The concept of political opportunities is adapted for a more mediated politics to assess the success and failure of protest groups to propagate their messages, and the affect different media strategies and protest tactics has on this endeavour. The messages of each group are examined for their collective action frames and traced through protest group communications, protest actions, and into their framing in press coverage.