Wall Jump 2: Bubbles, alignments & roller skates
Scott Davidson's newsletter on PR, public affairs and lobbying
Welcome to Jump 2. Thanks for the positive feedback comments on the first pilot episode. This newsletter exists because it matters, it’s interesting and because practitioners in PR and lobbying don't have easy access to lots of relevant and thought-provoking research that relates to what they do - and because I do a lot of reading…in this edition…
The EU Transparency Initiative and the Brussels bubble
New data on lobbying impact in Ireland
Strategic alignments with the public interest
Airbnb’s social responsibility and political activism
Metrics for measuring a movement
And…roller skates
Featured research: Transparency and Brussels Bubbles
EU Transparency registers aren’t helping the media to become lobbying watchdogs, and that’s a big problem as it’s a key founding logic for why they exist in the first place.
In this paper Will Dinan, from the University of Stirling reviews the politics that drive lobbying reform in Brussels.
The current regime is rooted in 2005’s European Transparency Initiative (ETI), which saw the creation of the first EU register of lobbyists. It was rebranded as the Transparency Register in 2011. The logic of the register is that accountability in public affairs is only possible if there is wider knowledge about lobbying. It’s hoped this will be achieved by creating more media and civic society scrutiny of contacts between lobbyists and EU institutions. If anything it hasn’t been the media, but rather campaigning NGOs who have used the register to play the role of public watchdogs.
The paper observes that LobbyFacts uses the EU register and publications on high level meetings to track lobbying trends, but isn't comparable to OpenSecrets which can draw upon the additional data generated by the stricter measures in the USA.
The underpinning logic is that transparency works if the media act as a fourth estate, which in turn creates a European public who keenly follow policy-making processes. As Dinan notes, thus far, the media have not been particularly enthused to report on the lobbying register, not least because its content doesn’t fit with news routines and values It becomes hard to believe any kind of democratic public sphere has come into being because of the register.
The day-to-day public sphere is, as Dinan puts it:
"The routine business of lobbying and public affairs also includes conferences, workshops, EU affairs training events, breakfast briefings, lunchtime seminars and dinner debates, as well as pseudo-events like book launches, and the activities of cross parliamentary groups, all of which create spaces where political communicators come together to discuss policy, to share information, to hear representations and argument, to lobby and negotiate consensus and dissensus. This is the substance of the actually existing European public sphere in Brussels. How are such networks and their impacts to be made visible?"
A challenge for researchers, and policy-makers alike is how to identify the actual communicative spaces where lobbying takes place and make them visible, make them open to analysis or scrutiny.
As such, and returning to my ongoing concern with lobbying inequality, this staged public sphere in seminar rooms and corridors is accessible to those who can pay the entrance fees - or indeed employ the staff to create the events. The public, and citizen preferences on what needs to be discussed, are most decidedly excluded from these important spaces.
Finally, and something to come back to at another time, Dinan critically discusses that some public affairs agencies are getting contracts from the European Commission for promotional campaigns AND also getting hired by clients to lobby the Commission – he believes these are key networks inside the Brussels bubble.
FULL PAPER: Lobbying Transparency: The Limits of EU Monitory Democracy
OVER THE (PAY) WALL
* Oliver Huwyler and Shane Martin (universities of Basel and Essex), in this study of interactions between lobbyists and politicians in the Irish parliament find that around 20% of parliamentary questions can be attributed to lobbying.
One key argument in this paper is that ‘social presence’ - face-to-face meetings between lobbyists and legislators would be examples of strong social presence, whereas phone calls, emails or social media are weaker forms of social presence – has more lobbying impact:
The paper concludes “that legislators are more sympathetic to interest groups’ concerns when both actors can develop and adjust a shared understanding, in contrast to interest groups simply supplying complex information.”
Full Paper: https://tinyurl.com/2kbkh37h
* Øyvind Ihlen and Ketil Raknes (University of Oslo and Kristiania University College) Continue their excellent stream of work on public relations and strategic alignments with the “public interest” – whatever that may be, which is part of the research problem.
It can be all things to all people. In this paper they state “In our sample, we find oil companies who claim to save the Norwegian welfare state, unions who create economic value, businesses who save lives with new technology and NGOs who reduce the expenditure on welfare.” It raises questions over the authenticity of the messaging. Ultimately: “the social license to operate will hinge on whether or not important stakeholders believe an organization to be a legitimate social actor that is beneficial for society.”
Full Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S036381112030103X
* Has COVID-19 led Airbnb to rethink it corporate social responsibility and political activism strategies? Dorine von Briel and Sara Dolnicar from the University of Queensland, have put together this useful history of Airbnb’s public relations.
Full text: https://tinyurl.com/3kfh445m
Youtube summary:
NOTABLE
* Brittany Bennett with thoughts on how to evaluate if your campaign is building a movement: https://www.brittanybennett.com/post/a-practitioner-s-guide-for-measuring-movements
* Did someone say strategic alignments with the public interest? Some remarkable insights into Exxon’s recent lobbying in Washington D.C. A sting operation by Greenpeace’s investigative journalism unit. Including the admission that:
“Exxon’s public support for a carbon tax as its principal climate policy is an “advocacy tool” and “great talking point” that will never actually happen.”
Report here: https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2021/06/30/exxon-climate-change-undercover/
CULTURAL HINTERLAND
Are roller skates becoming a thing again? Seeing them pop up in various places, including recent music videos. Let’s see if this apparent trend gets used by any promotional campaigns this summer.
Public Service Broadcasting:
And the rather fantastic Jane Weaver