European Union vs Divided Kingdom

Brexit is a much discussed and controversial topic, which is especially interesting to evaluate from a public relations perspective. As Davis states, the number of non-institutional organisations that employ PR strategies and professionals to achieve a clear political objective is increasing – to influence the public and raise awareness towards the policy goal. 

In a recent blog post, Nikki Gommers analyses the PR plan Theresa May has followed with her statement after the Salzburg Summit, which aimed to form an actual United Kingdom by trying to provoke anger against the EU. Nikki pointed out two mainly used frames in the statement: Blaming the EU (Frame #1) and appealing to UK’s Morality (Frame #2). However, the PR strategy for Theresa May showed a rather one-sided angle of the discussion on Brexit. In this blog post, I intend to add a European perspective to the discourse.

Taking the victim role

source: Getty Images

Theresa May's speech after the summit may have followed a well-structured PR strategy but in the context of a European media discourse and her counterparts in the UK, the ‘Blame Game’ (how it was called in the blog) is rather on May’s side. 

United Kingdom

“The Conservatives are ready for war – with each other...” – this headline by The Spectator hits the nail on the head. Several Tory camps face each other in bitter enmity and make full use of Nord and Olsson’s Responsibility frame to blame each other. 

The face of the ‘Leave’-campaign and former Foreign Secretary of State Boris Johnson actually tries to get support to unseat May and his speech at the Conservation conference 2018 reveals a lot about their current internal party atmosphere:

“This is not democracy. This is not what we voted for. This is an outrage. This is not taking back control: this is forfeiting control.”

(Boris Johnson)

source: YouTube/The Guardian

Whilst the conservatives are fighting, the oppositional Labour Party is preparing, as the CNN reports, to hold a second Brexit referendum. But the present situation gets even worse for May: According to new polls, Brexit has triggered a surge in support for Ireland’s unity and Scotland’s independence. 

I think this doesn’t look at all like a united nation but rather could mean a break up for Great Britain.

The European Union

EU leaders responded with calmness to Theresa May's proposal and convey a controlled situation. Unlike their counterpart, EU leaders are using the Nord and Olsson-coined Managerial frame to handle the crisis. The message communicated to the media was that although EU leaders have clear principles, they are open to compromise and hope for an agreement.

source: YouTube/The Daily Mail

So, what happened to the United Kingdom? Daddow argues that the UK was never really united in the EU in the first place. He finds scientific evidence to explain the current situation: Most outlets of the British media have already been framing the public against the EU for the past 45 years and the collapse of the EU membership, therefore, was quite predictable.

Theresa May is desperately trying to unify the nation, but the UK seems to be divided on all fronts. The decision to withdraw from the EU, therefore, appears to be just a symptom of a much bigger problem which will not be solved by pointing fingers - with or without a smart PR strategy.

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About Alice Claridge

She is a master student at the University of Amsterdam for Political Communication. She likes to see social movements raising and people being excited by a good cause. Hopefully, more Public Relations campaigns will address demanding issues with creativity and engagement.

Scholarly sources on which this article is based on:

Daddow, O. (2012). The UK media and ‘Europe’: from permissive consensus to destructive dissent. International Affairs, 88(6), 1219-1236. 

Davis, A. (2000). Public relations, news production and changing patterns of source access in the British national media. Media, Culture & Society, 22(1), 39-59. 

Nord, L., & Olsson, E. (2013). Frame, Set, Match! Towards a model of successful crisis rhetoric. Public Relations Inquiry, 2(1), 79-94.