Public Interest Media Activism and Advocacy as a Social Movement

This 79-page report, prepared for the Media, Arts and Culture Unit of the Ford Foundation, examines the academic literature focused on public interest media and communications activism and advocacy within the United States and abroad, for which the author has chosen to use the label “media reform” movement.


From the abstract:

"This report first seeks to outline the parameters of the movement... in terms of the primary conceptual frames employed, outcomes pursued, and strategic approaches. As this section illustrates, the media reform movement is characterized by a diverse array of conceptual frames (ranging from “media reform” to “media justice” to “communication rights” to “media democracy”), and a hesitancy at this point to coalesce around a single unifying frame. The movement is similarly diverse in terms of its outcome priorities and in terms of the strategic approaches employed by its various member organizations.

The second section of the report charts the origins and evolution of the research in this field. As this section illustrates, over time the analytical approach that scholars have brought to the topic increasingly has adopted a social movement theory perspective.

The third section considers the media reform movement as a social movement, identifying key recurring themes in the literature. As this section illustrates, media reform is unique in the extent to which its goals can facilitate the success of other social movements, but also is uniquely hampered by the extent to which traditional mainstream media are motivated to deny press coverage to media reform. This section also highlights some of the most common critiques leveled at the media reform movement, ranging from a lack of coordination and collaboration between groups, to a lack of a strong nation-wide constituency, to a primarily reactive orientation toward policy issues.


The concluding section summarizes the key findings of the report and offers a series of recommendations related to strategic approaches for the movement and to avenues for future research."

In the conclusion, the author suggests that the research approach to media reform from the perspective of social movement theory may be an indicator that media reform has increasing recognition as a social movement or it may be a reflection of the self-perception of academics/activists within the movement, who are currently generating much of the recent research. He recommends, as a strategy focused on moving forward, that the continued work "solidify and expand media reform as a free standing social movement, while being opportunistic in regard to potential linkages with other movements." His reasoning is that the movement resources and energies ebb and flow too much to respond to the larger ebb and flow of policy issues. Taking into account the rise of the internet, he states that alternative communication channels enhance the possibilities for enlarging a constituency, while undermining the extent to which other social movements perceive the need for media reform, though issues on media and communication policy are becoming more central to political, economic and cultural life.


Since the media reform movement has, from its inception, had an identity of fragmentation into distinct niches, the author, rather than seeking unifying strategies, asks how to best capitalise on this specialisation in knowledge and skill sets. If some of the fragmentation lines are between federal and local or grass-roots activists, some researchers suggest the possibility of benefiting from that division of labour, perhaps through a liaison-type of coordinating organisation.

Finally, the author names several avenues of research as yet unexplored. One of those is long-term research assessing strategies, tactics and organisational structure useful in effecting institutional change. Other avenues are a more comprehensive spread of research on issues and time periods as yet not covered, as well as the role and influence of the consumer movement on media reform and the relationship of where this movement stands in the hierarchy of social movements. Work also needs to be done in developing a sufficiently inclusive inventory of the indicators of success or institutional change for the movement.