Tri-denting It Handbook, 3rd Ed (2001)

Part 8

Trident Ploughshares In The Public Eye

8.1 Media Issues

8.2 Some Notes About Media Work

References and Acknowledgements

(GIF, 8.4 kb)

8.1 Media Issues

There are two sides to this. Extrapolating from casual conversations there is the impression that the vast majority of people in the UK are quite unaware that there is now a strong, coherent and active campaign of direct action against Trident. They might be vaguely aware that there are from time to time what they call ’demonstrations’ against Britain’s nuclear weapons, but not much more. The other interesting point here is that when you describe the campaign and its achievements to such people they are then surprised that it is not more ’in the news’. The overall impression from this is that most people don’t know what is in ordinary terms a very good story indeed.

On the other hand if you contact a worker in the mainstream media in the UK it is now more than likely that they will be aware of the campaign and its aims. At the last count there are nearly two hundred text and broadcast outlets worldwide which have carried our story in one form or another, and these are just the ones we know about. The range of these outlets is of interest. The list includes newspapers of international standing such as Asahi Shinbun in Japan, the New York Times and Le Figaro as well as a rich vein of alternative outlets, like Nisse Hult (Green Youth) in Sweden, BLU Magazine (New York) and Free Community Radio Melbourne. In many of these outlets we have had repeated coverage and this applies especially to local media where the story of a particular pledger or affinity group is followed through. Roger Franklin is a well-known face in the Stroud press and the same goes for fellow Midlander Marlene Yeo in Loughborough and Joan Meredith in Northumberland. The quality of the coverage varies enormously. Although outright hostile reporting is rare, scrappy, skimpy, inaccurate or downright misleading copy is common, in the broadsheets as well as in the tabloids. An early hostile item was a Daily Express cartoon (19^th August 2000) giving the familiar ’ancient hippies with an ancient agenda’ spin. In the immediate aftermath of Greenock, knee-jerk responses in the Scottish broadsheets led to antagonistic editorials. The Herald talked about ’This asinine ruling’ while The Scotsman (22^nd October 1999) referred to ’idealistic vandals’ and Gimblett’s ’muddled thinking’. Incidentally, the Scotsman editorial led to a welter of correspondence on the trial, most of it strongly supportive of the Trident Three. The report in the Guardian (8^th November 2000) about the Jubilee Two action at RAF Wittering is a fine example of the sloppy end of the spectrum. Under the heading ’Priest accused of RAF burglary’ it reads,

’A security investigation has been launched after a priest and a Catholic worker were allegedly found inside a nuclear warhead compound at RAF Wittering, Peterborough. Martin Newell, 33, of Canning Town, east London, and Susan van der Hijden, 31, are in custody charged with burglary’.

No context, no detail, no understanding. Among the better work is John Lloyd’s Article in Scotland on Sunday (24^th October 1999) which ends,

’The Trident Three, and the review of the Gimblett judgement which will inevitably come, prompt us to think again about the world we have made unsafe for our children. Three mothers did it and a fourth let them off. Anyone who has a heart should say - good for you all. Now, let the rest of us become engaged.’

Ruth Wishart’s piece ’A voice louder than bombs’ (Herald, 10^th August 2000) showed a grasp of the nature of the campaign and the core issues and bore this bouquet,

’It strikes me, in this week of man’s increasing inhumanity to man, that they [TP] might just be saner than anyone else on the planet’.

Stephen Naysmith (Sunday Herald, 13^th August 2000), who followed our story from the start in the Big Issue (Scotland) and was the only journalist to cover the Maytime story as it happened, referred to the shockwaves the campaign was still ’sending through the Scottish legal establishment’ after Greenock, and gave a good description of our diversity.

There has also been some reasonably good broadcast reporting, such as the Finnish YLE Stations 30-minute TV piece on Katri Silvonen and Hanna Jarvinen, in which their personal motivations are well set in a campaign context, and the mainstream Danish TV stations’ coverage of Ulla Roder’s part in Maytime and Greenock. Among good radio work have been the short pieces on Radio Four’s Law in Action and Maggie Charnley’s live interview on the same network’s World at One on 14^thFebruary 2000.

The overall picture is much too complex, and the evidence too fragmentary, to attempt any summary of what our public image is, beyond the widening but still small circle of those who are fully in the know and supportive. The field is also complex in terms of the different kinds of audience we want for the story, the general public (whatever that is), the peace movement as a whole, opinion formers and decision makers, folk in the civil police and the legal profession, the arts and entertainment and business, the whole world of those who campaign for social justice and sustainability.

8.2 Some Notes About Media Work

At the time of writing the campaign has a very strong reservoir of experience and skills in working with the media. Many came into the campaign already experienced and others have developed these skills in the last two years. This was well illustrated at the disarmament camp in August 2000 when as many as thirty different activists worked in the media team, many of them working directly with press etc. and giving interviews. This breadth of involvement makes sense in a campaign founded on affinity groups.

Ideally most of the media work would be done at affinity group level, and integrated into the planning that the group undertakes for its activity. It would make sense to identify one member of the group who co-ordinates the media work. This can involve:

  the development of the local and relevant national media contacts, both in terms of lists, and of establishing relationships with particular journalists;
  preparing a standard format for press releases that is recognisable;
  collecting the information and the personal details of those involved, along with quotes;
  getting advance information out when appropriate;
  sending out stories promptly (with due regard for the very varied deadlines at local level) and following them up with a checking call;
  trying to get journalists as well as film people and photographers to the event (if appropriate);
  being consistently available at the end of a phone (or responding quickly to phone messages);
  considering what will make a good picture and thinking through the various elements of that, the banners, placards etc. and the potential of the action itself;
  taking own photographs and video for media use and for internal consumption;
  having more extended briefing packs available when required;
  getting local media interested in more extended features as well as news;
  monitoring media coverage and keeping records.

The checking call to journalists is an irksome but necessary task, at least at the beginning of the process. As relationships grow, you will find that certain journalists will come at you for stories, even on occasions appearing to be prompting you to action! You will have to talk through as a group what to do in response to the penchant of so many journalists for the merely quirky (’A grandmother protests’ etc.) and just how much of that individuals can stand. Please note that all of the above is a counsel of perfection, very quickly modified in the face of certain realities, such as the irritating need to go to work, to sleep and to engage with family and society as a relatively normal human being.

It is hard to overestimate the value of local media work. For one thing consistent coverage appears to be more achievable at local level than at national, and local outlets have extensive and regular readerships. There is also the chance that the national media will take up stories from local outlets. This is more obvious in the case of broadcasting networks, but can apply to papers also, as witness the way that Joan Meredith had fifteen minutes of fame in August 2000 when a whole raft of dailies had her picture (Ground Zero T-Shirt and all) next to the story of her being confined to the Alnwick courtroom for one day for non-payment of a £100 fine. Local outlets are also more likely to print and broadcast our material, in terms of extended quotes, briefings etc. A good example has been the coverage in the Wee County News in Clackmannanshire of the Lord Advocate’s Reference, through the local connection of Ellen Moxley which told the story of the LAR more professionally than most.

The same principles apply to the media work for a ’maximum disarmament’ event. The big difference is that preparation must be more thorough to allow for the likelihood that the activists themselves may be quickly relatively incommunicado in prison. Documentation ready beforehand should include activists’ statements with their rationale for the action; background information to set the event in context, short biographies and photographs. (In the case of the Pheasants’ Union ’prep’ photos were still being sought over a year after the event.) If on remand the activists should mail out as quickly as possible their own accurate version of the story, especially since the authorities will be turning out misinformation in response to journalists queries. Have a back-up arrangement in terms of information in case the person with that role is held, which can happen. If the time on remand is lengthy, make sure that prison support and media support are well linked. You may find that journalists and editors who are uneasy about the story will use the excuse (especially in Scotland) that since the activists have been charged and the matter is therefore sub judice, they will not publish material which could prejudice a trial. In such cases a statement from the activists that they are not denying the facts of the case and will not take action against any journalist who tells the story could be helpful.

The campaign has also found it useful to have an overall co-ordinating media infrastructure. This team maintains an overview of the media situation and in fact sends out the majority of press releases. It attempts to monitor coverage and to keep records. It co-ordinates media work at disarmament camps and other big events. It can offer the following to affinity groups and maximum disarmament groups:

  Media contact lists which are regularly revised. This comprises a Main Media List as well as some more targeted, for example for AWE Aldermaston, and an e-mail list, which is composed mainly of ’alternatives’. At the time of writing there is the beginning of a switch among journalists towards e-mail, which will make communications so much easier.
  A standard press release format which can be adapted to local use. Of course, affinity groups may prefer their own format, which is fine, but these should at least refer to the website and make the involvement with Trident Ploughshares clear.
  Helping out the local group if it is at an early stage of growth or is short of local resources for covering media work. This could include helping develop local lists and contacts or sending out stories, or sending out scanned photographs.
  A Press Release Checklist for making sure all the points are covered.

In return the media team need the following:

  If at all possible some early warning of actions, especially maximum disarmament actions, so that we can respond reasonably intelligently to media queries.
  Copies of press releases sent out (plus a copy for the website).
  Copies of local coverage for the media archive.
  Knowledge of the good ideas and good practice that happen locally and could be adopted by the media team as a whole (including practical things like fax software that actually works, sources for contacts etc.). Tell us what worked for you and what didn’t!