by: Heather Gehlert and Lori Dorfman
posted on Wednesday, July 12, 2023
The Supreme Court’s recent decisions to to dismantle affirmative action, reduce civil rights for LGBTQ+ individuals, and uphold financial obstacles that make it harder for people to attend college reinforce the need for long-term narrative change. What would it look like to build narrative power in support of public health values? The history of tobacco control offers clues.
Tags: media advocacy, narrative change, narrative power, public health
by: Chinyere Amobi
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2022
For every news story about soaring case counts and other struggles facing public health workers amid COVID, there are countless other untold tales about the long-standing work public health advocates and health departments have done in communities to earn trust, dispel misinformation, and meet essential needs. A recent conversation with reporters surfaced several important tips on how advocates can get their issues — and the stories behind their work — into the news.
Tags: health equity, media advocacy
by: Heather Gehlert and Katherine Schaff
posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2021
In this blog, we go behind the scenes to explore strategic communication insights from a housing justice coalition’s recent policy wins and challenges, as well as implications for future campaigns. Advocates share lessons on rapid-response data collection, tailoring frames to different audiences, building a diverse group of spokespeople, and more.
Tags: coalition building, health equity, housing justice, media advocacy, narrative power, strategic communication
by: Heather Gehlert
posted on Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Sharing messages and conducting outreach on social media may be an important way to advance equity, as doing so allows advocates to bypass traditional gatekeepers and elevate voices of color in a historically white, male-dominated industry. But how effective is this approach? A new study about tweetchats, published last month in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, offers insights into how effective these social events have been in making health inequities among Latinx populations more visible and moving people to act.
Tags: health equity, media advocacy, tweetchats
by: Ingrid Daffner Krasnow and Shaddai Martinez Cuestas
posted on Monday, December 16, 2019
Relying too heavily on data to make your case, inadvertently reinforcing opposition arguments, and simply getting tongue-tied are all common communication pitfalls. The good news is they can be avoided. This blog, the second in a three-part series, draws on our work with advocates and captures lessons that they can apply to any public health or social justice issue.
Tags: framing, media advocacy, strategic communication
by: Ingrid Daffner Krasnow and Shaddai Martinez Cuestas
posted on
During BMSG’s recent work with grantees of The California Wellness Foundation, common themes emerged among their questions about strategic communication. This blog, the first in a three-part series, is designed to help answer some of the most common media advocacy questions we received from both seasoned and novice advocates.
Tags: media advocacy, strategic communication
by: Katherine Schaff
posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2019
When advocates reach out to BMSG for help shaping the public narrative and advancing policy change on a particular public health or social justice issue, they often are eager to improve their ability to write op-eds or speak with reporters. But public testimony is another powerful way to deliver compelling messages that reach decision-makers. In this blog, our health equity coordinator offers tips for doing so, based on her recent experience providing public comment at San Francisco City Hall.
Tags: community organizing, media advocacy, public comment, public testimony
by: Heather Gehlert
posted on Tuesday, April 09, 2019
A new study from Berkeley Media Studies Group found that coverage of the child welfare system omits important context and connections to other issues. Here are four steps practitioners can take to improve the news.
Tags: child welfare, domestic violence, media, media advocacy, news
by: Heather Gehlert
posted on Friday, March 29, 2019
A recent New York Times editorial series on the consequences of laws that threaten women’s reproductive freedom inspired us to examine a powerful but underused media advocacy tactic and whether advocates can use similar approaches to put other policy issues in the media spotlight.
Tags: editorial boards, media advocacy, reproductive justice
by: Daphne Marvel
posted on Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Op-eds are a powerful tool not only for bringing public health and social justice issues to the public’s attention, but also for reaching policymakers and promoting concrete policy solutions. Here are some tips to help you use op-eds to put your issue in the media spotlight.
Tags: media advocacy, strategic communication
