Modernism, state sovereignty and dissent: media and the new post-cold war movements

Abstract

Post-cold war theories of the press and foreign policy have noted a new, less consistent relationship between political and media elites. Political communication scholars have developed three general models in response, but these do not seem to map well to press coverage of the anti-globalization movement that has emerged in recent years. This paper argues for a new theory of the press and oppositional politics in an environment that has altered the equilibrium between media, political elites, and interest groups. The new political environment results from three principal causes: the erosion of state sovereignty over the political economy, the elimination of the Soviet system as a rhetorical resource for movement critics, and new information technologies that alter movement structure and thus increase its resilience. Analysis of two streams of media content, news and editorial, on the protests at the 1999 meetings of the World Trade Organization reveals an anomalous reversal for received theories of media and elite power in the way the mainstream press covers movement politics.