In this book, Ian Taylor examines how a social movement, the anti-Iraq War movement in the UK, engaged with the media as a part of their campaigning against the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Moving beyond content analysis to draw upon interviews with locally based journalists and activists, Taylor examines how locally based anti-war groups engaged with their local press, as well as how those groups were reported on by the local press in their respective areas. In the process of exploring these ideas, the book takes on questions like:
How did local journalists assess the legitimacy of the anti-war movement?
How, why, and to what extent did opponents of the war pursue local press coverage?
What bearing did the social composition of the movement have on the way they set about engaging with the media?
How did the local press handle the controversy surrounding opposition to military action against Iraq?
Media Relations of the Anti-War Movement
makes a unique contribution to research on the interactions between social movements and the media and plugs a major gap in the literature on the Iraq War and the media.