ABSTRACT
The relationships between the news media and media sources, particularly non-official news sources, are complex and not entirely predictable. By drawing on theories of frame analysis, on Hall et al.’s (1978) concept of ‘primary definition’ – which seeks to explain how sources that are closest to the establishment tend to exert a greater degree of influence over media discourses than non-official sources do – and by drawing on some of the criticisms that have been levelled at the ‘primary definition’ thesis, this chapter works its way towards outlining how a number of externally driven circumstances can sometimes prise open media discourses just enough to allow ‘challenger’ sources the opportunity to have some form of input into public debate. The second half of the book refers back to many of the insights outlined in this chapter so as to explore and explain how locally based anti-war groups were represented in the local press and to consider whether they were able to make a meaningful contribution to debates about the Iraq crisis.
