Using the Power of Media to Influence Health Policy and Politics

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Media Advocacy to Influence Policy
Chapter 14

A Tool to

Reshape the Social and Physical Environment

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The Power Of The Media

  • Determinants of Health
  • Social Conditions
  • Physical Environment

Primary tool to influence these determinants

  • Policy
  • Primary influence on policy
  • Media
  • Largely determines what issues we collectively think about

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The primary tool available to public health for influencing social conditions and the physical environment is policy.

Policy : the primary tool available to the public for influencing social conditions and environments.

Policies defines the structure and set the rules by which we live.

Being successful in policy development means paying attention to the news.

News Media largely determines what issues we collectively think about, how we think about them and what alternatives are viable options, which in turn influences key health policy decisions.

Media Advocacy

  • Provide understanding for the public
  • Motivate for participation
  • Provide the method
  • Shared accountability
  • Harness the power of the news

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Helps people understand the importance and broad reach of news coverage

The need to participate actively in shaping such coverage

The method to make it happen effectively

Shared accountability not simply individual accountability

Media advocacy emphasizes social accountability, which typically receives less attention from the news than individually oriented solutions.

Harness the power of the news to mobilize advocates and apply pressure for policy change

Differs from traditional public health campaigns

Steps for Developing Effective Media Advocacy Campaign

Overall strategy

Media strategy

Message strategy

Access strategy

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Overall strategy / The ultimate goal of the campaign

Media strategy / Chosen based of the appropriateness for the overall strategy

Message strategy / What they want to say and to whom

Access strategy / How to attract news attention

1. Developing an Overall Strategy
“The Ultimate Goal”

  • Most Important part of a Media Campaign
  • “Clarification, articulation and justification of the desired change”.
  • Media advocacy prime directive: You cannot have a media strategy without an overall strategy

Four Main questions:

What is the problem or issue? Define the problem.

What is a solution or policy-desired outcome? Develop a realistic and achievable objective.

Who has the power to make the necessary change?

Who must be mobilized to apply the necessary pressure?

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1. Articulation of the problem / Articulation is important to journalists because the reality of news today demands that health professionals identify the most critical aspect of the problem and be able to describe it well in just a sentence or two.

2. Decide on a concrete solution that will at least make a significant difference. Must be clear about what needs to happen. Is a new law needed? Is more enforcement required? Does the budget need to be changed? Does someone need to take responsibility to do something to protect the community’s health?

3. What person, group, organization or body has the power to make the desired change. The target audience would be a legislator, other elected officials, regulatory agency, small business owner, or corporate officer. It can change over time, depending on the stage of development of the issue.

4. Constituency groups must put pressure on policy makers when dealing with a controversial issue, such as: phone calls, letters, demonstrations, media coverage and office visits. Mobilizing supportive groups is important because media coverage last for a short time, but the issue is often longer term, so constituency groups can apply pressure on a continuous basis.

2. Media Strategy

  • Media Advocacy / What?
  • Move from information gap (traditional health communications) to power gap (media advocacy)

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Media advocacy / the strategic use of mass media to advance public policy by applying pressure to policymakers

Information gap focuses on information to increase knowledge to individuals, while power gap focuses on change in social and physical environments.

Traditional Health Communication vs Media Advocacy

Individual Problem vs Policy Problem

Change: Personal health behavior vs Policy

Mass Media used to: Change behavior vs Influence public policy

Short term focus vs Long term focus

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  • Linking public health and social problems to inequities in social arrangements rather than to flaws in individuals
  • Changing public policy rather than personal health behaviors
  • Focusing primarily on reaching opinion leaders and policymakers rather than on those who have the problem (the traditional audience of public health communication campaigns)
  • Working with groups to increase participation and amplify their voices rather than providing health behavior change message
  • Having a primary goal of reducing the power gap rather than just filling in the informational gap

MOTIVATE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT RATHER THAN PERSONAL BEHAVIOR CHANGE

3. Message Strategy

  • Framing
  • Portrait vs. landscape
  • Message components
  • Access strategy

Framing covered in next slides

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Framing

  • Framing / The process of identifying how the issue will be depicted by the public. Shapes how the public will feel and discuss the issue.
  • Who’s the hero or the villain
  • Overcoming adversity
  • Twist of protectors causing harm

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The message is what is said to the target

The overall strategy determines the target audience (could be a single person, small group, CEO of a company or a legislative committee)

The message is delivered to the target through the news media (It is a mechanism for thrusting the discussion with the target audience into the public conversation

Framing is the process of identifying how the issue will be depicted; it is “the package in which the main point of the story is developed, supported, and understood.” Some points are magnified, while others aren’t. This will contribute to how the issue is felt and talked about by the public.

Framing for Content

  • When framing the content of a news story:
  • Shifts the individual problem to a social issue
  • Includes all aspects of the problem, not just one aspect (landscape instead of portrait)

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Challenges for Framing

“Put a face on the issue”

  • More interest in a individual plight than the policy (This could cause victim blaming)

When stories are more issue oriented audiences respond differently-they include government and social institutions as part of the solution

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Landscape versus portrait

  • How to distinguish between the two??
  • Individual
  • Broad

Portrait tells about the individual or event, but it is hard to see the surroundings that brought him/her to this place in time.

Landscape pulls back the lens to take a broader view. It may include people and events, but must connect them to the larger social and economic forces.

So the challenge for the media advocates is: to make stories about the public health landscape as compelling and interesting as the portrait.

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Components of a Message

  • Clear, concise statements
  • Keep it simple
  • New and interesting angle
  • Understand how typical news stories might connect to a particular health issue, such as asthma and secondhand smoke
  • Be able to link social factors and contextual variables

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Keep updated data and statistics about health issues to explain to reporters why they should include this information in their news story of the day.

Components of a Message

  • Journalists will ask two questions:

What is the problem?

What is the solution?

  • Public Health Professionals spend:
  • 80% talking about problem
  • 20% talking about solution
  • A good message uses direct language to convey at least three elements:

A clear statement of concern

The value dimension

The policy objective

  • Compelling Visuals

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Public health professionals should spend 20% on problem and 80% on solution. Identify the problem briefly, emphasize what needs to be done.

Access Strategy

  • Determine what part of the issue will make a good story to attract journalist’s attention
  • Understand how journalists define and report news
  • Watch television news carefully
  • Reading newspapers
  • Listening to radio

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Monitoring the local and national media outlets and paying close attention to how often and what they say about the issue. Ask yourself does this coverage ask everything it should about the issue? Are there important aspects that are missed? Is there a public health aspect to this story that should be included?

This will help advocates determine which journalists are most interested in a topic and what aspect interest them the most. Also, advocates will start to see different symbols and how journalist tell their story.

Building Relationships with Journalists

  • Keep a lists of local media contacts
  • Name of reporter
  • Phone number and fax
  • Email address
  • Name of the media
  • Best time to contact
  • Section that the journalist is responsible for
  • Notes of any interactions
  • Update addresses regularly

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Newsworthiness

  • Is the issue controversial?
  • Is there a milestone event?
  • Is there an anniversary?
  • Can irony be used?
  • Can a local issue be connected with a larger national event?

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Strategies for Getting in the News

  • Creating news
  • Piggybacking on breaking news
  • Paying for advertisement
  • Using editorial strategies

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Creating news / You can’t just say something, you have to do something. May be releasing new data, announcing a specific demand or having a news conference

Piggybacking on breaking news / Can be achieved by a letter to the editor, or with a news conference.

Paying for advertisement / May be the only way to get the message out.

Using editorial strategies / Letters to the editor, editorials and op-eds (opinion editorials) are usually in response to a specific article or editorial the paper has published. Advocates can make appointments with the editorial board and ask them to make a statement about an issue or pending policy.

Tips and Techniques for Successful Media Advocacy

  • Calculate social math
  • Localize stories
  • Evaluate authentic voice
  • Reuse the news

Overcoming Challenges

  • Avoid murky strategies
  • Avoid institutional constraints
  • Distraction by opposition
  • Stay on message

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Outcomes

  • Increase skills
  • Better relationships
  • Increased visibility and influence

Summary

  • Media advocacy brings public attention to specific individuals & issues