Working with the Media

Nov 01, 2000

What is the media and media advocacy?

Media, which is the plural form of 'medium', are the forms of communication -- television and radio, advertising, and newspapers, magazines, or written materials (or "print media")-- used to spread or transmit information from a news source (which can be a person, an agency, a Congressman or other policy maker, or another newspaper, television program, or radio broadcast) to the general public.

Advocacy means openly supporting a certain viewpoint or group of people. If you are an advocate for a specific cause, you work to get local, state, or federal governments to grant specific rights, make policy changes or create new laws for the good of your cause. For example, if you have a child with a disability, you might advocate for the increased availability of medical services for handicapped children in your city.

Media advocacy is the use of any form of media to help promote an organization 's or a company's objectives or goals, which come from the group's vision and mission. For example, suppose you work as a media advocate for a non-profit agency fighting to reduce gang violence in your neighborhood. You would try to present neighborhood issues related to gang violence and the changes you want to make in such a way that you:

1. Change the way community members look at community issues or problems;

2. Create a reliable, consistent stream of publicity for your agency's issues and activities;

3. Motivate community members and policy makers to get involved.

Media advocates, or the people who work to attract publicity for organizations , know that the media can get a public or social policy message across to the largest audience possible in the least amount of time. As a media advocate, you will use the media to:

1. Inform the public about what really causes or contributes to public health problems;

2. Recast health problems as public health concerns that affect everyone, not just individuals;

3. Encourage community members and other professionals to find out more about public health problems and to get involved.

Why should you get into media advocacy?

The media have been shown to be a primary source of health information. The media can be the best friend or worst enemy of health promotion and community development workers (click here). Newspapers, television, and radio have access to different kinds of people and audiences.

Some of the goals of media advocacy are:

To inform the media about who and what really contribute to health problems , community deterioration, and the choices that individuals make about the behaviors that affect their health and well-being.

To use the media to pressure health and community development officials to make policy changes.

To influence the media to give your coalition exclusive coverage, allowing your members to tell their stories in their own words.

To give communities more control by letting residents who might not otherwise be heard have a stronger voice in the media. Shining the spot light on a community can give its members the power and the desire to change the policies and situations that affect their lives.

To get the media to cover the kind of stories that will "light a fire" under other community members so that they get involved and contribute to community-based solutions.

When should you focus on the media?

You should always focus on the media! Your organization can never have too much publicity (the good kind, that is!), especially since your news will always have to fight national, international, or other local news for coverage.

Good times to focus extra energy on the media include:

During the announcement of a new project. For example, you may want to recruit more funders to your organization, and publicity given to your agency's new initiative to reduce the sale of cigarettes to teens is a good way to alert the public of your plans and needs.

When you have information that can be tied to a community's events. Perhaps your community has had a rash of burglaries in a particular part of town. You can tie your efforts to increase public safety into the crime problems currently reported in your local paper.

When using an opportunity for publicity could mean the difference between you meeting your goals or your opponent reaching his.

When a media opportunity makes the difference between the passage or non-passage of something you support or disagree with.

What does media advocacy mean?

There are three different activities in the media advocacy process:

1. Agenda setting is what you accomplish when you influence what the media covers (media agenda), what people talk about (public agenda), and what policy makers do during legislative session or in committee (policy or political agenda).

To set an agenda:

Let the media and public know what your concerns are.

Get the general public to acknowledge that your issues are important; that is , get . them talking about what is important to you.

Generate some sort of action. Create a policy change or new policy surrounding your issue or get more people involved.

Agenda setting helps you make connections with the media and the people who pay attention to them. It also 'sets the stage' for your next trick, shaping the debate.

2. Shaping the debate is trying to change the way people talk about public health problems.Traditionally, the media tell an audience, "This is what the problem is"-- informing the public about a problem-- and, "This is the solution"-- usually summed up in a quick health message such as, "Just say no".

The media's habit of giving tidbits of information about problems and then providing quick-fix solutions (e.g., "This is your brain...this is your brain on drugs...Any questions?) reinforces the idea that if a person has a health problem, it's her own fault. This kind of media picture influences the way the general public finds solutions and how fast problems are solved.

Once you gain greater control over the way public health issues are reported by the media then the community can work for honest to goodness health improvement.

3. Advancing a policy is a way to use the media to put pressure on policy makers. But media coverage created by media advocates has to be built and backed up in such a way that decision makers feel or anticipate pressure from the people who elected them. This pressure, then, motivates policy makers to take action.

How do you set up a media campaign?

A media advocacy campaign is similar to a political campaign in that the people who run it need to plan it out; they need to have specific strategies, or plans and tools, in mind before they take any action. As you gear up for a media advocacy campaign, you'll need to prepare yourself to do business with the media. It's your job as a media advocate to understand your organization's goals and to know how you want the media to help you advance those goals.

Here are the steps you'll follow when you set up a media campaign.

1. Preparing your members

You will need to designate a spokesperson or spokespeople to work with the media. They will need to be prepared to speak with the representatives, using extra caution with words and language that can be manipulated.

2. Identify your objectives

Ask yourself why you need to set up a media campaign in the first place. What is your organization missing? Is an advocacy campaign the best way to get it? What are you going to use the media for? Do you only want to inform the public of important facts or do you want to get community members involved in your issues? Do you want to change policies or create new ones? Do you want to expose your opponents? Do you want to build support for your goals and objectives?

3. Select a target audience

Anyone who gets involved in public health issues can make a difference. Because the people who live in one community can have many different opinions and preferences, you can't reach everyone with just one message. You will need to narrow your audience and decide whom you want to target. Whom do you want to reach? The general public? Policy makers? People who are undecided about your issues? People who don't know about your issues?

4. Make a plan

Because media advocacy activities can be time and money-consuming, it's important to put your best foot forward when you begin a campaign. Carefully consider when a good time to start your campaign is, who you will contact first, what issues you will tackle, how you will present them. What forms of media would you like to use? Television, print media (magazines, news-papers, newsletters, press releases, etc.), advertising, radio, billboards, public service announcements, news stories, feature stories, radio shows?

5. Review your goals

Even though you put a lot of thought into your media advocacy plan, be prepared to modify your goals. Remember, the news in our world can change in the blink of an eye, and you need to be ready to react to an opportunity, even if it isn't really appropriate for your organization. Are your goals feasible for your organization?

6. Keep your ear to the ground

What do people talk about these days, in your community and nation-wide? What can polls and surveys tell you about the hot topics they talk about? How much do people know about your issues? What kinds of misconceptions or prejudices can you find in public opinion?

Resources

Altman, D. G., Balcazar, F. E., Fawcett, S. B., Seekins, T., & Young , J. Q. (1994). Public health advocacy: creating community change to improve health . Palo Alto: Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention.

Goldman, K. D., & Zasloff, K.D. (1994, December). Tools of the Trade : Media do's and don'ts. SOPHE News & Views, 6 - 7.

National Cancer Institute. (1988). Media strategies for smoking control : Guidelines Bethesda, MD: Author.

Pertschuk, M., & Wilbur, P. (1991). Media advocacy: Reframing public debate . Washington: The Benton Foundation.

Wallack, L., Dorfman, L., Jerniagan, D., & Themba, M. (1993). Media advocacy and public health: Power for prevention. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.

Contributed by Aimee Whitman; Edited by Bill Berkowitz and Gillian Kaye Provided by the Community Tool Box