MEDIA ADVOCACY

Media advocacy is the strategic use of news making through television, radio and newspapers to raise awareness, promote public debate, build community support and advance policy goals. Generated from intentional organizing and the use of appropriate data, it is the critical element binding the components of the Environmental Change Model into a cohesive whole.

By raising awareness of the problem on the public agenda, print and broadcast stories provide a vehicle for high-visibility community response, increasing the impetus for policy change. Media of this type typically includes data about problems and information about policy solutions that have been identified through key informant interviews and research. They may also include quotes about the need for change from local residents or other stakeholders who have been recruited as partners and trained to be spokespersons.

Stories of this kind may be generated in several ways: through press conferences, media events or some special announcement relating to substance-abuse issues of local concern. Letters to the editor or editorials calling for policy change may be submitted by community leaders who have a specific interest in the issues being addressed.

Media advocacy works best when messages are delivered by community leaders, local residents, parents, youth or other authentic community voices who have a high level of credibility. The inclusion of relevant data, which highlights the need for action, is also a key to successful efforts.