News Management, Communication and Social Problems - Essay Example

? What news management strategies do pressure groups and/or large corporations use? How successful have they been in managing the news agenda? University: Course: Tutor: Date: What are Pressure Groups? Pressure groups can broadly be defined as being groups of several like-minded individuals. These individuals are strategically organized so as to be able to influence the formulation of various government strategies. Pressure groups are different from political parties in that they do not engage in the practice of putting forward various candidates seeking election to the different government offices. Pressure groups do not essentially seek to become part of the government; they only wish to influence the outcomes of various government decisions (Williams, 1998). Pressure groups are designed having a rather narrow and focused aims and they therefore tend to only concentrate on a limited range of specific issues. Unlike the practice that is common with political parties, pressure groups do not put together manifestos covering various broad ranges of spectrum of policies (Chapman, 2004). Although there exists several key differences between political parties and pressure groups, the distinction between the two is often seen to be blurred since some of the parties in the United Kingdom are to small to have the unattainable hope of forming the government and as such these parties resort to trying to influence the government. Various pressures groups like trade unions used to maintain close links with political parties to an extend that it was practically impossible to distinguish between the two an example being that the United Kingdom’s Labor Party was formed on the basis of the trade union movement, the trade union movement at one time used to provide the bulk of the party’s funding as well as majorly dominate and influence the direction taken by the various party policies (Williams, 1998). Types of Pressure Groups Pressure groups can be classified into two main groups according to the various issues and aims that they happen to represent; these two main classification groups are; Protective Pressure Groups: Protective pressure groups attempt to work towards the overall defense of all their members. An example of a protective pressure group in the United Kingdom is the British Medical Association. This pressure group endeavors to work towards not only the representation, but also the overall protection of all the doctors in the United Kingdom (Browne, 2011). Promotional Pressure Groups: Pressure groups that fall into this category are seen to strive at putting forth various new ideas that all happen to be aimed at attempting to improve and reform the society so as to make it better for particularly the more vulnerable people. A good example of a pressure group that falls into this category in the United Kingdom is the Child Poverty Action Group. This pressure group works at attempting to both represent and raise awareness of the difficult experiences and various effects of poverty that befall poor children (Needham and Dransfield, 1990). Large Corporations and News Management Although in the past, most large corporations had failed to recognize the vital role that public presentation happened to play in their operations, recent times have seen widespread appreciation of the fact that most large corporations happen to operate in a media sensitive environment. Large corporations are now engaging in trainings some of their executives on how to deal with any media crisis management (Manning, 2001). Some of the large corporations like Procter & Gamble have implemented various news management strategies that see them issue “Crisis management manuals” during the hiring process of all new staff members serving in their communications and public relations departments. They also organize mock news media exercises where they engage several freelance journalists who are hired to play the role of reporters from various news agencies such as the BBC and CNN (Manning, 2001). The News Management Strategies Employed by Large Corporations and / or Pressure Groups All pressure groups and large corporations all seek the similar goal of attempting to raise their profiles by getting their message and policies across to the general public (Walsh, Stephens and Moore, 2000). By doing so, these bodies generally hope to be able to further their various objectives and aims via the use of the news media. In recent years, pressure groups and large corporations have been finding it to be increasingly difficult to successfully advance their aims by using the various news media majorly as a result of a growing competition for the media from other corporations, celebrities, nation states, social movements and commercial enterprises. The increased competition for media coverage has resulted in the creation of a situation whereby pressure groups and large corporations can no longer continue to solely rely only on the news worthiness of their various stories so as to be able to secure space on the news segments of the various news media. In order to effectively succeed in the management of news agenda in the drastically changing news environment, it has been vital for the large corporations and media houses to evolve and become more adept at critically understanding the ever changing news media landscape so as to be able to successfully execute several successful news management strategies across the entire news media mix. Strategies Employed by Large Organizations and Pressure groups in News Management Employment of Media Experts Most large corporations and pressure groups rarely retain media experts “Spin doctors” within their organizations and as such, normally resort to retaining several professional media experts who are well endowed with the ability of being able to use media channels so as to successfully advance the interests of the hiring pressure groups and large corporations (Cottle, 2003). The Use of Concerts by Pressure Groups In recent times, concerts have fast become an increasingly popular tool used by various pressure groups. Most pressure groups have taken to organizing benefit concerts so as to enhance the exposure to their cause as well as, supplement their income (Marx and Qureshi, 2002). Some pressure groups such as the “Make Poverty History” Campaign have also been highly successful at conducting successful campaigns though they hired the services of several in house specialists who were tasked with the responsibility of formulating and executing highly successful news management strategies. Some of the strategies employed by these specialists included the involvement of various high profile celebrities in the conduction and organization of the campaign. To raise awareness, the specialists organized a series of several concerts in ten different locations and continents around the world that were planned to take place consecutively (Make poverty history, 2010). Via the employment of this strategy, the organizers managed to captivate a television audience that was estimated to be at around three billion television viewers around the world. Due to the sheer magnitude of the campaign, it was seen to be highly effective since other than its triumph on television, there were over 6000 different pieces of news articles that were written in relation to the concert and its campaign (Raymond, 2006). The Strategic Use of Internet Marketing The Internet is increasingly becoming one of the most preferred news management strategies employed by pressure groups. Pressure groups are now starting various websites to help them in speedily reaching larger audiences. The “Make Poverty History” concerts were seen to successfully employ the services of FairSay, which is a specialist online media consultancy that specializes in promoting pressure groups. During the period ranging from the planning of the concert through to the actual concert event, FairSay provided a special coalition website to be used in the campaign. The specialists at FairSay were also seen to successfully replicate onto the online medium the massive news coverage that the campaign managed to achieve in both the broadcast and the print media (Raymond, 2006). The use of Ready-Packaged News Stories Another successful strategy that is successfully being used by some of the pressure groups in the United Kingdom involves the use of using the Government’s very own published data. This data is further supplemented by the addition of more information for which the general public happens to have a rather insatiable appetite. This strategy is successfully being used by the Taxpayers Alliance campaign group. This main focus of the group’s argument is that the British Government is actually very wasteful of the money it receives in taxes from its citizens and as such, Britons should actually not be paying the colossal amounts of tax that they are currently paying. There are several other similar groups in the rest of Europe advocating for the same agenda in different countries. According to the Tax payers Alliance, its media campaign strategy has largely been successful and has managed to attract relatively significant media attention and news coverage due to the fact that its news management strategy allows it to be packaged and marketed to the news media in a different fashion from that which is employed by other pressure groups (Tax Payers Alliance, 2013). Due to the fact that modern day journalists do not have the necessary time and resources to be able to conduct thorough researches before proceeding to publish their stories, journalists generally end to find it to be extremely helpful and beneficial when Taxpayers Alliance pressure group conducts research and presents to the journalists credible and full information that requires relatively little research before it can be presented to the general public (Tax Payers Alliance, 2013). The Use of Creative, Non-violent Strategies in the Attraction of Mass Media Attention In attempts geared toward the attraction of mass media attention, it is often a challenge for most pressure groups to be able to find effective none violent strategies that will ensure that their often courageous pioneering actions are not in any way drowned out by the often chaotic actions of violent incidences. One of the pressure groups that has successfully managed to employ the use of this strategy is Greenpeace. Greenpeace is focused on campaigning for a change in both behavior and attitude so as to be able to conserve and protect the world’s environment in addition to promoting its peace. As part of its strategy, Greenpeace is generally focused on the use of various nonviolent and creative actions designed to help it gain mass media attention in addition to ensuring that it receives the support of the public on some of the issues it campaigns for (Greenpeace 2010). In one of its successful campaign strategies, some of the Greenpeace Activists climbed to the very top of the CN tower found in Toronto Canada and let down to hang a huge banner that declared that the George Bush who was then the United States president and Canada were actually “Climate Killers”. The message on the banner was in reference to the United States government led, and Canadian government supported opposition to the Kyoto Protocol (Greenpeace, 2010). The Protocol was established to help reduce the global levels of greenhouse emissions. As a result of this undertaking by the pressure group, the global news media took to highlighting the fact that it was mainly the two countries of Canada and the United States that were seen to be mainly opposed to the protocol. As highlighted by this illustration, all the activist actions undertaken by members of Greenpeace are seen to be extremely creative, entertaining as well as dramatic. This is so as to ensure that their various actions receive sufficient news coverage in the media (Hansen, 2010). The Success of Large Corporations and Various Pressure Groups in Influencing News Agenda The employment of various news management strategies by large corporations and pressure groups has been met with mixed results. Although some of the large corporations and pressure groups are seen to still maintain of the use of the traditional strategies such as lobbying and organizing protests and demonstrations, some of the pressure groups have managed to adopt some new strategies that are helping them in better influencing the news agenda. Although some of these new strategies employed were actually ill advised, an example being the damage by some Greenpeace members to a maize crop of GM food that was being tested on a farm in Norfolk, the new strategies employed can be perceived as being largely successful as they have mostly contributed positively in highlighting to the public the particular issues that the campaigns had been designed to highlight (Thomson, 2002). The strategies have been successful as evidenced by the fact that they have often provided the common news media with some hard hitting statements and visual images that have received a lot of airplay. They have also been noted as having largely influenced common public opinions via the skillful use of news media. Pressure groups and large companies are now concentrating on filing the insatiable need by the evolving 24hour round the clock news media for more material. Bibliography: Browne, K., 2011. An introduction to sociology. Cambridge, UK ; Malden, MA : Polity Press. Chapman, S., 2004. Sociology. Letts and Lonsdale. Cottle, S., 2003. News, public relations and power. London [u.a.] : Sage. Grant, W., 2006. Pressure Groups and British Politics. Chapter Five, Pressure Groups. The Politics of Pressure. Page 128 - 'Ending Global Poverty'. Published by Palgrave Macmillan. Greenpeace. 2010. Choosing a diversity of nonviolent tactics. accessed on March 28th, from http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/Blog/choosing-a-diversity-of-nonviolent -tactics/blog/12093/. Hansen, A., 2010. Environment, Media and Communication: Routledge. Make poverty history, 2010. Highlights and Results. Accessed on March, 29th, 2013 from http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/about/highlights#2005. Manning, P., 2001. News and news sources : a critical introduction / [...] XD-US. London [u.a.] Sage. Marx, K., and Qureshi, R., 2002. Music and Marx: Ideas, Practice, Politics. Routledge. Needham, D., and Dransfield, R., 1990. Business studies. Cheltenham : Stanley Thornes. Raymond, D., 2006. MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Make Poverty History New Media Review. Accessed on March 28th, 2013. from http://www.bond.org.uk/data/files/resources/76/mph_new_media_review.pdf. Tax Payer's Alliance. 2013 What we do. Accessed on 29th March, 2013 from http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/. Thomson, A., J., 2002. Genes for Africa : genetically modified crops in the developing world. Cape Town : University of Cape Town Press ; London : Global. Walsh, M., Stephens, P., and Moore, S., 2000. Social policy & welfare. Cheltenham, Glos., U.K. : Stanley Thornes. Williams, A., 1998. UK government & politics. Oxford : Heinemann. Read More