PLANNING FOR MEDIA ADVOCACY WRITTEN BY DAVID JERNIGAN FOR THE MARIN INSTITUTE FOR THE PREVENTION OF ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUG PROBLEMS Media advocates are opportunistic: they monitor the media, looking for opportunities to make their issues part of the daily news. Because the news is often unpredictable, media advocates cannot always plan their campaigns. But, like virtually any other media initiative, media advocacy efforts work best if they are well planned. Even in the case of fast-breaking, opportunistic media advocacy efforts, if a group has discussed in advance the basic elements of their media advocacy strategy, the chances are much greater that strategy will succeed. Every media advocacy plan should answer four questions: 1) What is your goal? Goals can be long-term or short-term. For instance, one goal might be to place an environmental frame around a breaking news event relevant to youth alcohol or tobacco use. Another would be to attract media coverage for an event that highlights a group's goals for policy change. A longer-term goal of a media advocacy effort might be to establish good relationships with the local media, as a basis for future campaigns. Another long-term goal might be to undermine the credibility of those opposing one's policy goal. The ultimate goal of most media advocacy campaigns is usually some kind of specific policy change; however, campaigns can accomplish a great deal on other fronts along the way. 2) Who is your target audience? For those who have done media planning, this question will come as no surprise. However, most of us are accustomed to targeting the audience afflicted with the health problem we are trying to prevent or reduce. For example, in media campaigns to combat youth alcohol and tobacco use, we usually try to target the young people themselves. In media advocacy, since the ultimate goal is changing policy, the target audience is often policy makers, those in whose hands the policy decision we wish to influence lies. Another audience frequently targeted by media advocacy are those who shape or influence public opinion, often the media themselves. Sometimes the audience for media advocacy is the voting public, active or potentially active citizenry, or that segment of the public that we are trying to organize to support our policy initiative. Deciding who the target audience is affects everything about a media advocacy campaign: the message or messages of the campaign, the channels through which the message is transmitted, how we seek to frame ourselves and our opposition, and so on. Influencing policy makers usually means placing our message in that part of the news to which policy makers pay the most attention: the front section of the newspaper, the first portion of a newscast, or the opinion/editorial section of a newspaper. Sometimes we want to influence a single policy maker or group of policy makers. In this case, we need to target our message at the channel or channels those policy makers are most likely to attend to, sometimes a single station or newspaper. This is called narrowcasting. If we wish to change public opinion more generally, then we can expand our channels to include the features page and more general human interest stories, as long as they maintain the focus on policy and do not shift the issue back to the level of individual behavior. Targeting a message more widely is known as broadcasting. 3) What is your message? This is where the rubber hits the road, where media advocacy becomes an art. Those of us who have planned social marketing campaigns are accustomed to developing messages, often in the form of slogans, and focus-group testing them with small groups drawn from the target audience. This model does not translate easily into media advocacy. First, "messages" in media advocacy cannot generally sound planned. "Media bites", seven to fifteen second encapsulations of the story the way that you want it told, using humor, literary devices or an appeal to the emotions to make an impact on the audience, need to sound spontaneous even if we have practiced them thirty times. Second, the target audience for media advocacy is often not available for focus group testing. It is rare that one can call together a group of policy makers and test different media bites or other issue frames on them. In media advocacy, often the best we can do in terms of testing our messages is to try them out on each other. Role playing with one's colleagues can be extremely helpful in selecting media bites, and has prevented more than one poorly conceived bite from appearing in print. All of the techniques of framing are relevant to media bites. Using powerful symbols and appealing to common values, applying creative epidemiology to make statistics more compelling, juxtaposing or piggybacking one's issue with another issue or story within the current media window, using irony or appealing to common sense -- all of these can contribute to the creation of a powerful message. Media bites are not the only form in which messages are communicated in media advocacy. Particularly in television, it is crucial to collect or identify visual images that express one's message. The point of thinking ahead about one's message is to insure that 1) all members of the group understand and communicate the same message, and 2) all materials going to the media support that message. For instance, in a campaign to eliminate alcohol or tobacco industry sponsorship from a local college sporting event, if the group has chosen to frame the local sponsors of the event as innocent or under-informed, and the industry sponsor as a cynical marketer trying to circumvent restrictions on marketing to young people, it is important that no one from the group criticize the local sponsors in the media. 4) Evaluation: How will you measure success? It is difficult to know if you have succeeded if you have no way of measuring success. Measures of success are partly dictated by a group's goals. For instance, if the goal of a campaign was simply to change a particular policy, then it is simply measured. If the goal is also to stimulate debate and raise awareness about the importance of environmental factors, then this can be measured by the amount of coverage received. Within a particular article or broadcast story, success can sometimes be measured by placement within the story. Print stories are usually written in the "inverted pyramid", that is, with the most important information up front, and progressively less important information following. This is based on the assumption that most people scan newspapers, reading the headline and the first few paragraphs, and continuing only if they are very interested in the story. Thus, in a newspaper article, if your quotes or point of view are placed higher up in the story, this can be a measure of success (so long as your quotes are not being used as a "straw person", that is, set up in order to be immediately knocked down by a quote from the other side). The degree to which headlines, display quotes and picture captions reflect your message can be an indicator of your success in influencing the editor as well as the reporter. In broadcast stories, by contrast, people usually remember what they heard last, or, in the case of television, the most memorable visuals. Thus in broadcast stories, evaluation questions should include how the story was presented visually or aurally: did the visual or aural backdrop for interviewees from your side establish or undermine their credibility? Who had the last word (sometimes this has little bearing on success, since the last word can be a token voice from the opposition, added to provide "balance" for the story)? Who received the most air time? What frame did the announcer's introduction or "last word" give to the story? Another important measure of success is how much discussion your coverage provokes. This is partly reflected by how much the story snowballs in the media, traveling from print to broadcast to talk shows to features and opinion pieces. The goal of media advocacy is to place important health issues on the public agenda and increase support for healthier public policies. It is difficult to change public policy if the public does not recognize that the policy needs changing. Media Planning for Policy Change List your policy goal: __________________________________________________________________________ List three goals for your work with the media. At least one should be related to your policy goal: __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ Whom do you want to reach? Remember the allies and targets you identified in your policy exercises: Allies you must reach using media __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ Targets you will influence using media __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ Distill your policy message into a ten word (maximum) media "bite" that will get the point across to both groups. Use two different "bites" if you have to but no more than two: __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ What will success mean in this effort? __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ WRITTEN BY DAVID JERNIGAN FOR THE MARIN INSTITUTE FOR THE PREVENTION OF ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUG PROBLEMS ---------- MEDIA ADVOCACY AND FRAMING WRITTEN BY DAVID JERNIGAN FOR THE MARIN INSTITUTE FOR THE PREVENTION OF ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUG PROBLEMS Media analyst George Gerbner once said, "If you can tell a nation's stories, you need not worry about who writes its laws. And television tells most of the stories to most of the people most of the time." The media is a powerful force in our society, setting the agenda for what we think and talk about even if it does not always tell us what to think. And the news portion of the media sets the agenda in particular for our nation's debates about policy. Media advocacy focuses on the news, seeking to change the terms of debate about policy. Good media advocacy skills can be a powerful addition to community efforts to change laws and norms regarding health problems. Framing is the process by which a group of facts are packaged to become a news story. There are many ways that a given group of facts can be put together, just as there are many ways of painting a picture. Depending on how the picture is painted, the viewer will pay more attention to certain features of the landscape, and less to others. If the painting is well done, then the viewer will want to look at it. Framing for Access Framing a story so that it is compelling is also known as framing for access. Framing for access answers the question: how do we get the media's attention? how do we make reporters, readers and viewers see this issue as important? Framing for Content Once we have the viewer's attention, as public health advocates, we usually want viewers to notice the environmental features of public health problems, as opposed to purely individual behaviors or factors. This element of framing is known as framing for content. Framing for content answers the question: once we have people's attention, how can we increase the odds that the way that the story is told reflects a public health view of the problem and its solutions? ---------- TIPS ON MEDIA STRUCTURE WRITTEN BY HILARY ABRAMSON FOR THE MARIN INSTITUTE FOR THE PREVENTION OF ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUG PROBLEMS Media include print (newspaper and magazine) and broadcast (radio and commercial and cable television) communications. Most newspapers publish daily or weekly. Magazines are weekly, monthly or quarterly. This tip sheet focuses on mainstream media; there are also publications that cater to alternative and specialized audiences. Ordinarily, you will contact a full-time employee. But print and broadcast outlets in major markets (urban areas) usually supplement full-time staff with part-timers called "stringers," who might contact you. When brainstorming story ideas and access points, be inclusive: think daily (quick) as well as long-term (in-depth). Think national as well as local. Think mainstream as well as racial/ethnic outlets. And when you concentrate on getting your story in local media, remember "shoppers" -- free (mostly) suburban papers filled with advertising and some stories. Figure out which media reach your audience and go for them. Watch, read and listen to the media. If you expect them to hear you, you should know who they are. TELEVISION Access Points for News Stories: At local TV stations, most news stories originate with assignment editors. You should know these key people who occupy the position with the greatest turnover in the broadcast newsroom. But you'd do best to know and first approach key reporters, most of whom are generalists. (Better that they sell your idea to the boss.) If your story is local, approach the reporters whose work impresses you; if a local station can afford the luxury of a beat reporter in your area, nab him/her. Reporters will tell you whether you must first contact the assignment editor. You may want to offer the story on an exclusive basis to one station. When it comes to network television news programming, you will be dealing with producers rather than reporters. (A program like "20-20" doesn't have an assignment editor.) Producers put shows together and are often on-air personalities. (E.g.: To get a public health expert on the "Larry King Live" television program, you will have to "sell" a producer that the subject and your interviewee will come alive on the air.) Cable TV is by definition local and must serve the community. Educate yourself on what your community cable company is doing that fulfills its responsibility as a public forum. If nothing exists, perhaps you can propose a public health forum. If there is a program, get to know the producer and host. Cable is folksy compared to commercial TV and usually hungry for timely, good programming. Of course, you fail to get the large audience you have with commercial or public TV. Access Points for Editorials: Major stations have commentators who offer opinions on a variety of timely subjects. Usually, they have freedom in choosing their topics and are expected to be controversial. Identify them. Cultivate them. (Sometimes, as with Sacramento's Dick Cable -- longtime Channel 10 news anchor -- a personality will also do commentary because he/she is trusted by the station.) Access Points for PSAs: Each station has a public service director, responsible for the airing these free announcements. Identify who they are and ask what kind of material they use and when their deadlines are. Since time is money in TV, these announcements rarely take place during prime time or when the audience is large. Many happen when you're asleep. Tips: Think visual. Before you approach anyone, have a visual in mind to present to the reporter, editor or producer. (Activists who pitched a citizen protest of the Gloria Estefan/Bacardi tour to local TV stations told them there would be underage young people with colorful picket signs outside the concert.) Only educational TV accepts stories that depict people sitting around talking to each other. TV exists for action. More than their peers in print, TV reporters are on a daily treadmill that often makes phone conversations brief. Be prepared for your pitch before a machine or person answers the phone. Call in advance. Avoid calling on deadline (if it's the nightly news you're aiming for, phone in the morning.) RADIO Access Points for News Stories: Only all-news stations have the luxury of assignment editors and beat reporters. Most radio news is "rip and read" from news wires with perhaps one or two reporters to localize stories. Most likely, you'll be cultivating the expanded news format stations, whether AM or FM. The environment will be as fast and daily as TV daily news. Again, approach through a reporter or the assignment editor. When you want to get on a talk show, just as with TV, find out who the producer is. The host may be approachable, but the producer is best first contact. Access Points for Editorials: Many stations have commentators you should cultivate. Public radio affiliates usually take commentary from freelancers with credentials in specific areas (e.g. a San Francisco Bay Area lawyer does legal commentary on KQED-FM). They can be reached through the stations. Access Points for PSAs: Get to know the public service director. Ask whether the station takes reel-to-reel or cassette tape; many still prefer reel-to-reel. Provide the service director with a written copy of what is said on the tape. Tips: Listen to AM and FM radio in your area. Try to call when the program you're aiming for is off the air. Identify which talk shows would be open to public health issues. Become familiar with all-news station(s). Listen to how they localize stories and notice how they use sound versus pictures to enhance the story. Try to think how you can provide sound suggestions when you pitch your story (ex: cheers of demonstrators at Estefan/Bacardi concert). Many small radio stations will help you produce your PSA. There may also be an organization that helps non-profits produce a video or tape at reduced cost (ex: the Bay Area Video Coalition (415) 861-3282 in Northern California offers access to video production and post production facilities for less than half the going commercial rate). If you can, leave with the public service director a postage-paid card that the station can return to you, listing the PSA's approximate air dates and times. DAILY NEWSPAPERS Access Points for News Stories: The larger the paper, the more specialized the writers. Many papers have health writers, as well as advertising/marketing columnists. Some sophisticated papers even have public policy reporters. Your story could go in numerous places. Get to know the specialist reporters who fit. Get to know the business editor, who should be interested in your watchdog marketing of the alcohol industry as it applies to the community. Know the assignment editor, who stays in the job longer in general than in broadcasting. Note which general assignment reporters cover stories in your area. Get to know them. And feel familiar with feature writers, who could make your story more palatable to read for the average reader than many of the above. Access Points for Editorials: Each paper has an op/ed editor who oversees the page that has letters to the editor as well as guest commentaries. You will want to know this person for commentaries you or your colleagues might want to write. It's also a good idea to meet with the paper's editorial board. It would be nice to have the paper think of you as a resource if it wants to editorialize on alcohol and other drugs in the community. Tips: Although the American public watches more TV news than reads newspapers, the latter covers the news more thoroughly. And, policy makers read the newspapers. You have more of a chance of having your story done in the complexity it deserves in a newspaper than in broadcasting. Invest in knowing these people. Read bylines and get to know what the reporter likes to do and does well. You still want to think visual, because most reporters would like to have a photographer illustrate the story. Two decades ago, journalism went through a phase of news-feature writing where front-section stories had little length restriction. Today, reporters are handicapped by a shrinking "news hole" -- the reduced amount of space allotted thanks to the sale of advertising. You have to tell your story succinctly because they do have to get the other side(s). WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS Access Points for News Stories: The editor of the paper and a reporter are probably all you'll need to know. Usually, each does the job of three people (at least). Access Points for Editorials: The editor. Tips: Weeklies are great places for advocates to place stories. They need the copy; you need your local story told. Communities usually support one weekly in the area more than the others. Identify which that is and develop relationships with the few people there. Weeklies have the reputation of being more beholden to advertisers than large papers are. Crusading papers of any kind are difficult to find in these times of shrinking advertising. Weeklies are probably under more pressure to flak for a community -- make it look good, not air community dirty linen -- than larger papers. Just be aware of that reality and anticipate where the city power structure might lean on the editor on your environmental health issues. Please note, however, that particularly in urban areas, there are several alternative weeklies such as The Bay Guardian that do crusade. Know and use them as well as you know the mainstream weeklies. NEWS SERVICES Access Points for News Stories: The assignment editor is usually the focal point for story placement. Tips: News (or wire) services come in various forms. The most common -- and largest -- is Associated Press, which has bureaus around the world and is the lifeblood of both print and broadcast media updates. The largest city close to yours probably has a bureau. Most American media rely on the wire without question (and often localize with a sidebar story). In major cities, AP reporters may get the opportunity to do stories they want to do from time to time in depth. This is rare and antithetical to the purpose of the wire, which is to pump out news in as abbreviated a form as possible and update it constantly throughout the day. There are other news services, however, that offer subscribers more varied services -- in-depth features, columns. If you have a press conference and AP picks it up, it is liable to have many more "lives" than you anticipated. Likewise, if you become acquainted with other, feature news bureaus nearby, your story might penetrate media deeper than your direct contacts might have taken you. MAGAZINES Access Points for News Stories: Few magazines have on-staff writers who do more than write department notes. Most of the writing is done by freelancers. To interest a magazine in doing a story on your issue, contact the editor in charge of the department that applies. Many magazines have favorite journalists. Follow what they write. You can reach them through the magazine. Try pitching your idea to them. Of course, you can write the article -- or ask a professional acquaintance -- and submit it to the editor