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Divide and Conquer: How climate change is used as a wedge issue
- 1. Divide and Conquer How climate change is used as a wedge issue By Callan Lawrence callan.comms@gmail.com LinkedIn
- 3. Creating action through publicity
- 7. Has the news always been so partisan?
- 9. How should climate change campaigners work with media? 1. Develop a strategy before media campaigning 2. To get friendly publicity and build a movement of like-minded people, use the Guardian, ABC, SMH and Crikey… 3. To influence political or business leaders, find the right channels and messages to convince their constituents and customers… 4. To change wide-scale public opinion, base your messages in shared values, experiences and interests.
Notas do Editor
- I’m a former journalist. I’ve worked for the Sydney Morning Herald, Sun-Herald, The New Daily, and several community newspapers. And I did this at a really interesting time in media, during the transition from print to digital business models. Since leaving journalism, I have continued to do some freelance work but mainly my work in that field is now in what I call advocacy roles. Which, I describe as PR for good causes. And it’s that experience that might be more useful to those of you here. Most of my experience in this capacity has been as an advocate for refugees and asylum seekers but environmental and climate change issues have always been a big interest and issue for me and I’m doing more volunteer work in that area now.
- I thought I’d show you a few stories that I worked on to get published and talk you through the strategies of those, because I think that there are some lessons in my experiences for anyone who wants to create action through media publicity. For four year I worked in a small comms team for Australia’s largest refugee and asylum seeker NGO. We were effectively the PR team for refugees and those seeking asylum. The media came to us for comment on a weekly and often daily basis. This was 2013 to mid-2017, Abbott was in power for most of that time and those marginalised people we’re talking about were the BIG news story most weeks. Refugees and asylum seekers were used as what’s called a ‘wedge issue’. The Abbott Government and it’s media allies marginalised those people and framed them as the biggest issue facing Australia. They were blamed for everything from congestion on the roads, to being a welfare bludgers and most poignantly to being potential Islamist terrorists. They were, and still are, framed that way because politicians and their media allies know that some people will believe them and the more people they can convince, the more people they can convince to vote for their party. And that strategy of convincing more and more people is based on fear, pitting people against each other and coercing us to take sides.
- I hope you’re starting to see some parallels to the current BIG news story of climate change and climate activists. So anyway, in this atmosphere of animosity and fear about Islamic terrorists coming by boat to claim the dole and kill the infidels, we decided to promote stories about their soccer prowess. At the time, recently arrived refugees with poor English, no money and trauma, had no structured route to just go and join a soccer club if they wanted. And we’re talking about 10s of thousands of people who are soccer fanatics. Sport is a great leveller. Especially in Australia. If you can show that you’re interested in the same sport as someone it’s a great icebreaker, and for those among us who lack a little on the empathy side, it demonstrates common interests and values. Our goals were to: 1. Reach people who saw refugees as an enemy and who were fearful of them; 2. Show enough commonality to change a few minds; 3. Integrate recently arrived people into the community through their interest in soccer. We were finding commonality to frame our messages about refugees from Islamic cultures, to hopefully get through to people. And so here are a few examples of those stories about refugees that we had published in that soccer framework. Auburn United FC - Mohammad Jawad and Essa Khan Newington Gunners The Adelaide Advertiser, Daily telegraph and Herald Sun. – Ali Abbas, Sydney FC and Iraqi refugee Once these stories were published people started contacting us with offers of money and in-kind support. It directly helped us create a pathway for refugees an asylum seekers to join legitimate soccer clubs and competitions in Sydney. That went an incredibly long way towards helping those individuals break out of their silos, meet Australian people, and find education and employment pathways. As much as I’m sure you care about refugees, you didn’t come here to talk about this. But guess what, if you haven’t noticed, Muslim refugee terrorists are no longer the BIG story each week! So my strategy may have worked!
- No, sadly, climate change and climate activists are the new Wedge Issue, with you, me, other climate change activists framed as public enemies. Don’t be surprised if we’re soon called terrorists. If we look at what we call the right wing media -- The Daily Telegraph, The Aus, Herald Sun, Sky News, The Today Show and Sunrise, 2GB -- this covers the majority of the news consuming public in Australia. Just by the sheer noise these publishers make, they frame the way most Australians get their information. So let’s look at some of the recent headlines: $60b: that’s how much Labor’s carbon policy will cost our economy - the Daily Telegraph Priestess of the cult: cynical adults are taking advantage of Greta Thunberg’s fragile state to spread fear - The Herald Sun #Breaking: climate change activists are wreaking havoc across the country . . . Nine Tough on protesters: The Queensland government is set to fast track laws which would send 'dangerous, irresponsible and reckless' climate change activists to jail. The first one is from the election campaign. But these others are very recent. Notice those headings and intros about XR protests are NOT talking about why activists are protesting. They are talking about the disruption they are causing rather than WHY they are protesting. My understanding of the XR strategy, is that any publicity is good publicity for them: the condemnation and criminalisation will hopefully create a martyrdom that encourages more people to join; and conversely, if the movement is accepted by media and leaders, more people will also join. And hopefully both paths lead to action.
- In the Australian context, however, at least in the short and medium term, I would argue that our so-called leaders and the right-wing media are successfully framing these XR protests. And of course, they won the framing of Labor’s election policies. The protests may be having a positive effect in creating a movement and recruiting more activists, and they may in the long-term pressure leaders to do something substantial. But for now, the people who voted for the current LNP government and it’s criminal lack of climate or environmental policies see these headlines and footage of protesters interrupting their morning commute. I’m not sure that media coverage is going to change many of the minds that need changing. I also don’t think any media coverage is good media coverage. These headlines and images may actually further divide climate change deniers from the rest of us and provoke them to more aggressively oppose action. We’ll have to wait to see how that plays out but I predict more conflict before cohesion. I guess that’s how protest movements like this work, though. I would like to see a more concerted counter PR campaign by XR people.
- On the other side of the media spectrum, you could say is The Guardian and Crikey. And somewhere in the middle the ABC and Sydney Morning Herald. Here some comparison headlines from this week: Inside the Sydney Extinction Rebellion, where protesters dress as bees and pretend to die - SMH I'm an Extinction Rebellion protester and I'll be disrupting your work commute. Here's why - ABC online The 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions - The Guardian Students say they'll 'happily' return to school when governments plan response to climate change - Newcastle Herald
- So, why is the news so partisan. Essentially, we have major news organisations campaigning by proxy against action on climate change, others report what they believe to be the facts and others more aggressively campaign for change to prevent or limit climate change. Aren’t journalists supposed to report the facts? Yes. The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance has a code of ethics and the principles on which it is based are: 1. Honesty 2. Fairness 3. Independence 4. Respect for the rights of others But unlike the medical, education or legal professions, journalists can’t be banned from being journalists. Which I disagree with, but that’s a whole other presentation. More to the point, facts are either believed or not depending on people’s lived experience. People don’t believe facts for the sake of it. We need a trusted source or emotive verifying experience to help us believe facts. This has always been the case. Media 101 says wrap facts in believable, stories that connect on emotion. There are psychological reasons for that. Facts are boring and may not have any immediate relevance. On the other hand, emotions are powerful and immediate and hard to ignore. For example: If you read that science has shown bushfires will become more frequent due to climate change, you still buy a house in the bush because you see no immediate need to avoid that. If you’re friend’s house burns down in a bushfire, you have an emotional response and you may then be fearful of buying that house in the bush. We also need to make a distinction between reporters and commentators. Reporters need to be based somewhat in fact to report on events, but they can choose how to present them and what to omit. Commentators are free to rant about whatever subject gets under their skin, or, which their bosses advise them to. As Alan Jones and Andrew Bolt demonstrate. And it’s the commentators of News Ltd, Sky News, 2GB, the Nine network, that are stridently berating activists and scientists about their views on climate change. Or sowing seeds of doubt.
- It comes back to the Wedge Issue. Media executives now cultivate an audience to drive revenue. By dividing people into categories of interests and values -- such as people concerned about jobs, or people who dislike greenies -- right-wing media designs their stories to appeal to a demographic. And the same goes for left-wing media. There was a time when factual middle ground reporting was the most economical model. When selling ads was the major revenue driver, media had to appeal to the largest audience possible and so stories were balanced to appeal to the centre of the political spectrum. The digital media revolution gutted that advertising revenue and diversified the number and spectrum of media channels. Ads are now sold by volume of link clicks and engagement on a news site - comments, likes, etc. The most profitable way of running a publication is now to cultivate the most engaged -- or fanatical -- audience and that is done be appealing to people’s existing values and bias.
- So how should climate change campaigners work with media? So this question depends on your strategy and goals. If your goal is to get publicity and build a movement of like-minded people, for a protest or petition for instance, climate change activist can do well using the Guardian, ABC and Crikey and other supportive media If your goals are to get political or business leaders to take actions, well you need to convince their constituents and customers. And currently, those constituents are not the readers of the Guardian and Crikey. So, while it’s more palatable to only engage with the media channels and publications that reflect our own values and ideas, that doesn’t help us break new ground as campaigners. It’s preaching to the choir. I think that to change minds or build large scale public support, media campaigns need to frame their stories and strategies in common values, experiences and interests and talk to people who you may not think are on your side.