The Media Moonscape

Advocacy Astronauts Training Program: Mission #2

Goals & Outline

To gain a clearer understanding of the value of engaging with the media for advocacy and public awareness campaigns

To develop ability to write great press releases and letters to the editor!

Outline:

Strategic media engagement

Tactics

Tools

Next Steps

Working with the media

Can be important component to an advocacy strategy

Raise public awareness

Catch attention of elected officials

Writing press releases, letters to the editor, offering info to a journalist

Working with the media

Good press coverage can generate discussion, motivate government to put your issue on the agenda

Needs to be tied in to broader advocacy work

Integrated communications plan needed Organizational background (mission, reputation) SMART Goals Target audience – Primary and Secondary

Strategic Media Engagement

What kind of media coverage will result in the greatest impact on decision-makers?

Low, medium and high-profile campaigns

Selection depends on the particular issue and resources

Low-profile campaign

Collection of small activities Articles, letter-writings, meetings, event invites,

briefing

Good launching point, can build profile slowly

Gauge level of pressure that will be necessary

Medium-profile campaign

More intensive Meetings with senior officials, standing committee

testimony, meetings with MPs, working with other groups, media communication, etc.

Ideal when you have suggestions for solutions that are well-researched, point out negative implications of government action

Way to offer alternative solutions, put pressure on government while preserving relationships

Publicly links your name with the issue at hand

High-profile campaign

Very intensive Meeting with Opposition MPs, celebrities speaking

out, public criticism, damaging info sent to media, ad campaign, demonstrations

Use when you want to exert power by showing you can rally others to your cause

Hard to step back, risk of losing access to decision-makers

Could be a big splash initially, then smaller activities over long term (preventing anticipated gov’t decision, for ex.)

Questions

Can you think of an example of a campaign that fits any of these profiles?

Aside from advocacy, what campaigns have best grabbed your attention as a member of the public?

Tactics

Figure out who the key reporters are/who might be interested in covering your issue

Print media usually drives radio and TV coverage

Have a press kit for more thorough requests

Monday and Friday are generally slow; send by 4:30 on Sunday or Thursday Let them know if its okay to ‘hold’ it for a few days

Getting in touch with a reporter!

Start with calling the main reception desk

Follow up by email or phone

Get to the point, and present them with a good story

Based on your key message, but narrative connecting to wider audience

A ‘good story’ has a few components: Human element Impact on larger community Solution Action

Track and evaluate your coverage

Question

What experience has your chapter had with the media?

Do you engage with them often?

What are best practices/challenges that you have seen?

Tools: Press Release

How to write one!

Eye-catching headline

Write in an “inverted pyramid” style. Place the most important points—“who, where, what, when, why and how”—at the beginning, followed by the details.

Write in the present tense and use action verbs.

Sprinkle relevant quotations throughout.

Try to time the release when the issue or event will be a top story for the media, or try to tie your issue into one of the big stories of the day.

Call the day after you send the press release

Tools: Press Release

Format

Only use one side of one page.

Use wide margins allow room for editors’ comments and instructions.

Write as a reporter—not from a first-person perspective.

Provide pronunciation guides for unusual names.

Include contact information for at least two people who can answer questions about the release.

Type “# # #” centered below the last line. This signals the end of the release.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEOXFAM WELCOMES AGRICULTURE AID ANNOUNCEMENT, URGES DRAMATIC ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGEFor more information, contactAlexandra Lopoukhine 613-850-9723 |ITALY 2009-07-10 Oxfam Canada today welcomed Prime Minister Harper’s announcement of $600 million over three years to help small-scale farmers produce more food. The agency termed it one of few bright spots at the G8 summit, where leaders neither made good on their aid promises nor seemed to appreciate the urgency of the climate threat. “Canada's doubling of investment in agricultural production is welcome news,” said Robert Fox, Oxfam Canada’s Executive Director from the G8 in Italy. “Support for small farmers around the world -- most of them women – will be critical in curbing hunger. But we're anxious to hear what will be cut to fund this. It won't help if we've robbed Peter to pay Paul." "Canada has demonstrated a better record than others in living up to its G8 commitments,” Fox said. “But if it's going to provide strong leadership next year it needs to significantly hike its aid funding. We're still less than half way toward the 0.7% target."Canada’s announcement came as part of a US$20 billion G8 commitment for agricultural development. Over one billion people in the world are chronically under-nourished, up from 800 million two years ago. 

Climate ChangeOxfam also welcomed the G8 pledge to limit global warming to two degrees above pre-industrial levels, saying it obliges Mr. Harper to step up Canada’s reduction of greenhouse gases. Robert Fox said: "With the two degree limit, the G8 effectively agreed the climate floodwaters shouldn't reach the ceiling. But they did nothing about the water already swirling around our necks. Canada must take dramatic steps to reduce our emissions and to support poor countries’ efforts to adapt.”"Now is not the time to fudge targets or base dates or deflect attention from the urgent need for action,” Fox said. “People in Africa, Asia and the Americas are already feeling the violent impact of climate change." “As leader of the G8 over the next year, Canada is in the hot seat on climate change,” Fox added. “Mr. Harper has twelve short months to turn things around. If he fails, he will catch the heat for letting the poor and the planet die. With climate, there won’t be any second chances.”

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For immediate release media.conf@ewb.ca 416-123-4567February 4, 2004STEPHEN LEWIS TO ADDRESS ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS ANNUAL CONFERENCETORONTO: Stephen Lewis will address participants at the third annual Engineers Without Borders National Conference, Canada’s largest international development conference. It will be hosted at the University of Toronto from February 4 to 7.

Mr. Lewis, the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and Maclean’s Magazine’s “2003 Canadian of the Year”, will speak at the conference gala dinner on Saturday, February 7 at 7:30 p.m.“I am tremendously impressed with Engineers Without Borders,” said Lewis. “There is a consistent sense of wanting to collaborate, to share, to affirm and to be of help. It’s unimaginably important.”Titled Toward the Millennium Development Goals, the conference will focus on how engineers can help achieve the Millennium Goals both overseas and within Canada. The four-day program will include skill-building workshops and high-profile speakers such as Mr. Lewis, Canadian essayist and novelist John Ralston Saul and the federal Minister of International Cooperation, the Honourable Aileen Carroll.

Over 350 engineers and engineering students from across Canada are expected to attend the event. The conference will be held at 89 Chestnut Conference Centre, with the gala dinner and Stephen Lewis’ address open to the public. Tickets for the dinner are $150 and can be obtained by contacting 416.123.4567 or media.conf@ewb.ca.

Engineers Without Borders works in developing communities to promote human development through access to technology. Its 35,000 members across the country strive to make Canada a model global citizen.

Tools: Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor (LTEs) are one of the most important tools in your media kit

They are quick to write, relatively easy to have published, and are the most widely read section in the paper

Politicians and government agencies routinely clip and circulate letters to the editor as an indicator of what is important to citizens.

Tools: Letter to the Editor

Can be great advocacy tools, because they:

They reach a large audience.

Are often monitored by elected officials.

Can bring up information not addressed in a news article.

Create an impression of widespread support or opposition to an issue

Can spin issues in a new way

Can keep a debate alive and on the radar

Journalists love when people respond – whether positive or negative!

Tools: Letters to the Editor - TIPS

Keep it short and on one subject. (<200 words)

Write no more than three or four short paragraphs

An effective outline (though not the only one) is as follows Paragraph #1 cites any previous coverage of a story: “Ms.

Jones (Aid is Waste, April 14) doesn’t seem to realize that…”

P #2 introduces something personal and states your side of the argument: “As a person born and raised here in Our Town, I believe that…”

P #3 moves the key messages – the call for action P #4 gives a “kicker” to the letter.

Tools: Letters to the Editor - TIPS

Remember that space is limited on the letters page; the more personalized and concise your letter is, the higher chance it will run!

Respond. If a letter appears that argues against what you value (e.g. foreign aid is a waste of money), be sure to write a letter in response. Don’t attack or be insulting!

Try to get others to write as well!

Submit to a variety of papers if its relevant; the Toronto Star WILL actually run content written by an Edmontonian!

Send letters to weekly community newspapers too. The smaller the newspaper's circulation, the easier it is to get your letter printed.

Be sure to include your contact information.

Follow up is usually not needed but call once if you so desire.

Sample LTE

Dear Editor,

In 1970, the Canadian government made a commitment to contribute 0.7% of our GDP to international aid. Since that time, our percentage has not reached the target; in fact, it has decreased substantially. Canada’s contribution is crucial in working towards the fulfillment of the UN Millennium Development Goals, which are a series of benchmarks aiming to cut global poverty in half by the year 2015.

As a member of the University of Alberta chapter of Engineers without Borders, I have been involved in talking to Members of Parliament about their role in keeping our promise. I would like to see this issue being brought up in the lead-up to the federal election; so far it has been largely unaddressed.

I call upon all voters to ask their candidates how they will address the issue of making Canada’s overseas development assistance more effective, efficient, not to mention substantial – taking concrete steps to meet the 0.7% target. By making these areas a priority, Canada will bolster its reputation on the international stage and work towards bridging the global equality gap.

Thoughts on the example?

Strengths/weaknesses?

Have you written an LTE before? What was your experience?

Your turn!

Who had a chance to find an article they wanted to respond to?

What would be the key points you would include in an LTE responding to the article?

Next steps: Write a draft Partner up to give feedback Send ASAP Notify group when it is completed and if published!

Any other questions?

Questions?

Next Week: Perspectives and Q&A with Glen Pearson, MP Spread the word to your chapter!

Homework: LTE Book a meeting with your MP!

I will send a helpful document with guidelines We will discuss content more in coming weeks, for now,

just book it! (try for mid-August: preferably the week of the 12th - 19th)

Thanks, Astronauts!

Hope the rest of your week is over-the-moon amazing!