10 pages., via online journal., This article analyses the role of media in the representation and circulation of the term ‘social licence’ within public debate. It does so in the context of an increasingly global political economy of forests, growing public interest in resource procurement and environmental sustainability, and new forms of mediatized environmental conflict that carry volatile notions of ‘the affected’. Drawing on a longitudinal study of the three-decade-long conflict over forests and forestry in the Australia's southern island state of Tasmania, this research outlines the emergence, embedding and decline of the term ‘social licence’ in national and local media coverage. The article argues that the term's openness and strategic deployment by stakeholders in news media exposes industries, markets and communities to continuing conflict, while making the term a site for conflict itself. The article concludes by asking how – within the context of expanding international markets and complex supply chains, and sophisticated use of media by campaigners, corporations and governments – ‘social licence’ can be a publicly useful concept.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 183 Document Number: C37382
Notes:
California Newsreel, San Francisco, California. 4 pages., Describes a historical documentary about a dramatic 1939 roadside protest by Missouri Bootheel sharecroppers - black and white -and the repercussions it had in politics and in their lives. 56 minutes. 1999.
17 pages., As the United States grapples with increasingly partisan media and affective polarization, how do cultural and political fault lines filter into residents’ daily lives, and how are they navigated? This case study of a region within a red state uses a communication infrastructure theory framework to examine how this political context affects residents’ relationships with media and their larger community storytelling networks. Through a series of focus groups, story diaries, and interviews with residents and local journalists, it explores whether shared communication resources remain and the potential for creating spaces for dialogue across political and demographic divides. Findings illustrate how residents negotiate interpersonal relationships, community spaces, and local and national media in a polarized communication context. The study highlights the importance of recognizing place-based identities and media representations to facilitate trust in journalism and points to possible responses for local news and community engagement.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 183 Document Number: C37383
Notes:
California Newsreel, San Francisco, California. 2 pages., Reviews a historical documentary about a dramatic 1939 roadside protest by Missouri Bootheel sharecroppers - black and white -and the repercussions it had in politics and in their lives. 56 minutes. 1999.
