“Activism in paradise”: A critical discourse analysis of a public
Tracking number
relations campaign against genetic engineering.
ICA-15-10063
9
Issues communication helps activist groups gain members, attract reporters’ attention, frame
issues, and lay the basis for a multiplier effect, whereby reporters comment on positions
expressed in ads and thereby increase the number of people who become aware of the group’s
position. (p. 193)
Heath (ibid.) suggests, however, that the opinions held by different publics may limit the
ways in which they respond to information if there is no shared understanding. He refers to
this understanding as a
zone of meaning . . . the shared information and opinion that members of organizations and
publics understand and hold dear. Zones are expressions of the meaning, the interpretation and
judgement, groups and publics believe to be true representations of reality. Through their
zones, groups and publics view reality. (1997, p. 192)
This suggests that a link must be articulated between the internal and external communication
of the organization or interest group; that is a shared understanding must be created between
all stakeholders. Organizations must "attempt to manage both identifiable issues and their
own identities" (Cheney & Christensen, 2001, p. 233). An interest group resisting the
normalized discourse needs, therefore, to articulate a particular identity to facilitate
legitimation of this counter discourse and to gain support.
Gidden’s (1984) structuration theory helps to explain the centrality of communication to a
conceptualization of identity and identification. Firstly, identity may be seen as “belonging” –
a process of identification, how people perceive their own position in the debate. Secondly,
identity may be seen as “representation” - how different interest groups and organizations
present a “face” on genetic modification issues to other publics and stakeholders. Thirdly,
identity may be seen as a way of organizing – how individuals create structures that build an
identity as an organization or interest group (Cheney & Christensen, 2001; Scott, Corman and
Convention