File(s) under permanent embargo
We Too Are Green: Public Relations, Symbolic Power and the Tasmanian Wilderness Conflict
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-16, 18:37 authored by Elizabeth LesterThis paper asks how the incorporation of public relations and marketing strategies into political debate over Tasmanian wilderness, in particular the appropriation and deployment by industry and government of powerful symbols traditionally associated with the environment movement, challenges not only the always tenuously held power of the movement but also the power of the media. Drawing on textual analysis and interviews with journalists, activists and government and industry public relations specialists, it places recent developments into an historical context and is thus able to identify the nature and impacts of this ‘turn’ in the 30-year conflict. Specifically, it examines three key carriers of meaning for the environment movement — words, images and protest — and considers how their symbolic power can be harnessed by ‘authorities’ against both their traditional sponsors, the challenger groups, and their carriers, the news media.
History
Publication title
Media International Australia incorporating Culture and PolicyVolume
121Issue
NovemberPagination
52-64ISSN
1329-878XDepartment/School
School of HumanitiesPublisher
University of Queensland, School of English, Media Studies & Art HistoryPlace of publication
QueenslandRepository Status
- Restricted