Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- List of abbreviation
- Australian states and territories; Australian governments from 1972; and map of Australian states and territories
- Map
- Notes on contributors
- Editors’ introduction to the series
- Foreword
- Preface
- One Policy analysis in Australia: context, themes and challenges
- Part One The ‘policy advising’ context
- Part Two Analysis and advice within government
- Part Three Policy analysis beyond executive government
- Part Four Parties and interest groups in policy analysis
- Part Five Policy analysis instruction and research
- Index
Twelve - Media influence on public policy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- List of abbreviation
- Australian states and territories; Australian governments from 1972; and map of Australian states and territories
- Map
- Notes on contributors
- Editors’ introduction to the series
- Foreword
- Preface
- One Policy analysis in Australia: context, themes and challenges
- Part One The ‘policy advising’ context
- Part Two Analysis and advice within government
- Part Three Policy analysis beyond executive government
- Part Four Parties and interest groups in policy analysis
- Part Five Policy analysis instruction and research
- Index
Summary
Introduction
It is widely agreed that news media play a central part in contemporary Australian politics (see Craig, 2004; Economou and Tanner, 2008). A great deal of political reporting and analysis canvasses policy issues. However, the role that the media play in policymaking is less well-understood. State- and national-level Australian politics routinely produce issues and events that seem to suggest that governments do directly respond to media coverage of issues. Yet, much of what governments do is uncontroversial. A great many policy decisions go unreported. Against this backdrop, Australian public policy scholars have been reluctant to assign prominence to the media. As is the case elsewhere, they have not displayed any deep understanding of the effects of the media on the shaping and execution of public policy (Wolfe et al, 2013, p 175).
In this chapter, I suggest that our capacity to understand the place of the media in the policy process is frustrated by the different meanings that the terms ‘media’ and ‘public policy’ can each have. Rather than asking about the media’s capacity to influence public opinion or set the policy agenda, attention might be better focused on the public discussion of issues that the media allow and on the incentives and capacities that political actors have to take part. One key to a deeper understanding of the part they play in shaping public policy in Australia lies in recognising that the media – both old and new – constitute an arena in which rival political actors, including government agencies, interest groups, parties and even news organisations themselves, compete to prioritise and frame issues. ‘Going public’ is no longer a last resort pursued by outsider interest groups without direct access to decision-makers and the influence that this confers. ‘Insiders’ treated by governments as stakeholders now also seek favourable media coverage and mount advertising campaigns in an effort to secure their preferred policy outcomes. Just why this is so requires a revisiting of the assumption that policy emerges from relatively stable networks of policy actors. In Australia, as elsewhere, policymaking has devolved to specialised sub-arenas. Indeed, this is just as much an explanation of why many policy matters go unreported as is the lack of resources and available space that confine political journalism.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Policy Analysis in Australia , pp. 183 - 198Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2015