| Communication is central to strategies of social movement groups attempting to promote social change, but those opportunities are constrained more than democratic norms suggest. Habermas's description of a public sphere describes a Western democratic ideal in which all voices and/or all viewpoints are offered so the public can make informed decisions about self-governance. However, major institutions like government and the mass media are unable to grant access to all speakers, and the public may ignore some speakers. These opportunities form a discursive opportunity structure, in which some parties are better able to communicate with institutions and people who can promote social change.; This research suggested that opportunities vary by structural characteristics (resources like paid staff and budget) and ideology (group goals), and that these variables and communication strategies would be tied to news coverage. Environmental groups in the Puget Sound Basin of Washington were selected for study. Data were gathered in surveys, interviews, and analysis of newspaper articles.; Results showed that resource-rich institutional groups were no more likely than resource-poor grassroots groups to engage in communication strategies targeting government, the mass media and the public, but that size of paid staff and budget were related to some communication strategies. Ideology was weakly associated with communication strategies, with no differences between preservation and conservation groups, and just a few group goals (lobbying, anti-sprawl) related to specific communication tactics. Institutional groups and preservation groups each received significantly more news coverage. The frequency of communication efforts with government, the media, the public through conventional means and through use of computers were each significantly related to amount of newspaper coverage. In each realm, a linear relationship was found, in which more communication was tied to more news coverage.; Group resources, ideology and communication strategies each offer some explanation for variance in the discursive opportunity structure, especially frequency of newspaper coverage. Environmental groups possessing greater resources and espousing certain goals received more news coverage, and groups that engaged in more communication efforts got more news coverage. |
