10.2 Media and communication strategies

Social movements rely heavily on media to shape public opinion and gain support. From traditional platforms to digital strategies, movements use various channels to frame issues, mobilize resources, and coordinate action. Effective communication helps build solidarity and inspire participation.

Media framing presents both challenges and opportunities for movements. While negative portrayals can undermine legitimacy, skillful framing allows movements to challenge dominant narratives and offer alternative perspectives. Social media has lowered barriers to participation but also poses new risks.

Media for Social Movements

Role of Media in Shaping Public Opinion

• Media and communication play a crucial role in shaping public opinion and perceptions about social movements and their goals
• Effective media strategies help movements gain visibility, legitimacy, and support from wider audiences
• Media coverage can amplify or suppress social movement messages, depending on the quantity and quality of attention given to them
  • Favorable media coverage generates positive public sentiment and pressure on decision-makers to respond to movement demands
  • Negative or limited coverage undermines movement credibility and momentum

Framing and Media Activism

• Social movements use media to frame their issues, demands, and identities in ways that resonate with their target audiences and align with their values and beliefs
  • Framing involves selecting and emphasizing certain aspects of reality while downplaying or ignoring others
• Social movements engage in media activism by creating and disseminating their own media content to challenge dominant narratives and offer alternative perspectives
  • Producing documentaries, blogs, podcasts, and social media campaigns to bypass traditional media gatekeepers and reach supporters directly

Media Strategies for Mobilization and Coordination

• Media and communication strategies are essential for social movements to mobilize resources, recruit participants, and coordinate collective action
• Effective communication helps movements build solidarity, share information, and inspire people to get involved in various forms of activism (protests, petitions, boycotts)
• Media coverage and framing influence public support and pressure on decision-makers to respond to movement demands

Social Movement Media Platforms

Traditional Media Platforms

• Traditional media platforms (newspapers, television, radio) remain important channels for social movements to gain mainstream attention and influence public discourse
• Movements seek to cultivate relationships with journalists and secure favorable coverage through press releases, interviews, and op-eds
• Street art (graffiti, murals, posters) is a visual communication strategy used by some movements to raise awareness and express dissent in public spaces
  • Powerful symbols of resistance and solidarity, especially where free speech is restricted

Digital Media Strategies

• Social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) have become increasingly central to social movement communication strategies
  • Allow movements to share information, organize events, and engage with supporters in real-time, often bypassing traditional media gatekeepers
• Online petitions and crowdfunding campaigns (Change.org, GoFundMe) enable movements to gather signatures and raise funds, demonstrating public support and financial viability
• Hashtag activism involves using social media hashtags to draw attention to social issues and mobilize collective action online (#MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, #FridaysForFuture)

Participatory Media

• Citizen journalism and participatory media allow social movement actors to document and share their own experiences and perspectives, often in real-time
  • Live-streaming protests, posting eyewitness accounts on social media, creating user-generated content that challenges mainstream narratives
• The rise of alternative and citizen media has created new opportunities for social movements to represent themselves and their issues on their own terms
  • Movements can create and disseminate their own content, often in collaboration with allied media outlets and influencers

Social Media's Impact on Movements

Lowering Barriers to Participation

• Social media platforms have lowered the barriers to entry for social movement participation
  • Individuals can easily connect with like-minded others, share information, and coordinate action across geographic boundaries
  • Facilitates the emergence of decentralized, networked forms of activism that can rapidly scale up and adapt to changing circumstances

Amplification and Mobilization

• The viral nature of social media helps movements quickly amplify their messages and reach wider audiences, often bypassing traditional media gatekeepers
  • Movements leverage sharing and algorithmic features to generate buzz and attract attention
• Social media enables new forms of collective action (online petitions, virtual protests, hashtag campaigns) which complement or replace traditional offline activism
  • Digital tactics help mobilize support and apply pressure on decision-makers, even when physical gatherings are not possible or safe

Real-time Adaptation and Challenges

• The real-time, interactive nature of social media helps movements respond quickly to unfolding events and adapt their strategies
  • Monitor public sentiment, counter misinformation, coordinate responses to emerging challenges and opportunities
• Social media also poses challenges for movements:
  • Spread of fake news, fragmentation of audiences into echo chambers, surveillance and repression of activists by authorities
  • Movements need digital literacy and security skills to navigate risks and maintain the integrity and effectiveness of their online organizing

Media Framing and Representation

Challenges of Media Framing

• Media framing refers to how media outlets select, emphasize, and interpret aspects of social movement stories, often reflecting dominant cultural narratives and power relations
• Movements face the challenge of countering negative or misleading frames that can undermine their legitimacy and support
• Marginalized groups often face misrepresentation or underrepresentation in mainstream media coverage of social movements
  • Stereotypical or criminalizing portrayals of activists, erasure or silencing of diverse voices and perspectives within movements
• Movements face challenges controlling their own narrative and messaging in a media environment characterized by information overload, fragmentation, and polarization
  • Need to develop clear and compelling frames that cut through the noise and resonate with target audiences

Opportunities of Media Framing

• Media framing can present opportunities for movements to challenge dominant narratives and offer alternative perspectives
  • Use framing strategies to redefine issues, highlight injustices, and propose solutions aligned with their values and goals
• Movements can leverage media attention to gain visibility, legitimacy, and influence in the public sphere
  • Favorable media coverage helps mobilize support, pressure decision-makers, and shift public opinion in their favor
• Alternative and citizen media create opportunities for movements to represent themselves and their issues on their own terms
  • Create and disseminate their own content, often in collaboration with allied media outlets and influencers