were the important audience for the activists, as potential recruits, followers, supporters or, simply, sympathetic bystanders (Lipsky, 1968). Initially, activists’ strategy had been to mobilize “active people” -- students, media, academic, diplomats, civil sector leaders -- instead of attempting mass mobilization (S. S., personal interview, March 12, 2014; T. Z., personal interview, April 2, 2014). Most activists recalled meetings and discussions with these socially active groups (L. T., personal interview, April 4, 2014; S. S., personal interview, March 12, 2014). The media academic said it was a clever strategy, as massive mobilization was unattainable, while recruiting mobilized publics seemed an easier task. The strategy of recruiting activists from other or former movements has been one of the frequently used tools in mobilizers’ toolkit (Goodwin, 2013).
However, as the activism grew and the It Concerns You campaign decided to build awareness of media problems among mass publics, the activists re-aligned their frames. This pattern of frame re-alignment to respond to the changing context is well documented in the literature (Zuo & Benford, 1995). It was necessary to talk about the media issues “in a very clear language” (Z. K., personal interview, March 13, 2014). Problems in the media, obvious to professionals, were not fully understood by the public (H. J., personal interview, March 25, 2014)
The lack of access to public information is not only a journalist’s problem. It is citizens’ common problem. That he [citizen] does not know who owns televisions, and what interests these people have, and why they invest money and what money they invest [is bad.]… The citizens should know. It was our principle when starting the campaign [It Concerns You].
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It is one thing that I, as a journalist, am interested in, but, as a citizen, I want all other citizens to think [about these problems] too. (Z. K., personal interview, March 13, 2014)
The election activist, who traveled around the country to meet people, said it was not as hard to explain the essence of issues in the media to the people as it was to
demonstrate why and how these issues mattered to them.
These issues [proposed amendments to restrict the right of political gathering, must carry rule] were rather difficult to explain. If we stuck to the legal language, and dwelled on the details of amendments, nobody would understand a thing. The government would adopt the law, and nothing would change. Our purpose, the good work we did, was to get these key messages to the people: that their electoral choices could be ignored [in rigged elections], they could have been labeled as political activists and unjustly prosecuted. [We told them] anyone had the right to listen to alternative opinions. All of it was simple and tangible and relevant. Our slogan said just that -- It concerns any one of us…Crafting slogans, delivering messages, streamlining the campaign gave results. Every citizen we would meet at various places, from big cities to small villages, had a reaction. True, they were not standing with us in the streets, but they were aware, they understood and supported us. (M. P., personal interview, April 7, 2014)
Making issues relevant and understandable to the recruits in the context of their daily experiences, that is, increasing their experiential commensurability -- one of the key tasks in framing (Benford & Snow, 2000) – was clearly achieved by the movement. Still, the activists needed a potent motivational frame (Snow & Benford, 2000) that would stress the public’s ownership of problems in the media. It concerns you was designed with that purpose. The frame shaped the media issues as relevant to most people in Georgia. The people were told they could not see many Georgian channels available elsewhere because the government wanted to keep them in the dark and that they ought to support the “must carry” proposal. The people were learning that they could not even watch their own, local stations, because the government disliked what these stations said and pressed local cable providers to block their distribution (N. K., personal interview,
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March 24, 2014). “We were explaining to them [to people] that our common right [to information] was restricted, that we all needed information, which was withheld from us,” said the investigative journalist. “We were trying to build discontent, not artificially, but by making people aware of their problems, and they were getting angry” (N. Z., personal interview, March 15, 2014). The magazine publisher said the people did not need much articulation of the problems. She said they were already unhappy. Instead, they needed to be told to take charge (S. S., personal interview, March 12, 2014): “Here, you need to sign a petition, then, you need to hold a meeting, and later, we need to change a legislation” (S. S., personal interview, March 12, 2014).
The slogan it concerns you was created as the elections drew nearer. The independent journalist recalled the focus group work that went into the choice of the slogan. The activists tested several slogans (Z. K., personal interview, March 13, 2014). The winner, it concerns you, was authored by a popular Georgian poet (T.B., personal interview, April 12, 2014). The independent journalist said the slogan became the brand of activism. He thought it was a very well-chosen, innovative, elastic frame, which incorporated not only media but also election-related issues and had the potential to cover other concerns in the future:
We were telling [the people]: instead of blindly following us, we are telling you, it concerns you! If it does, you need to read this booklet, see that social ad, listen to our suggestions, and meet us. There were many discussions in Tbilisi and all over Georgia. We’ve been everywhere and met everyone. We were telling them, ‘start thinking. If it concerns you, then express your protest’. (Z. K., personal interview, March 13, 2014)
Theme 4: Frames to target members of the Media. The activists spoke at great