How to use modern media in campaigns
against discrimination, intolerance, racism and
xenophobia
Dr. Rosen Petkov, SCAS
www.scas.acad.bg
What is a Campaign?
Some of the more useful definitions are as follows:
 Campaigning is speaking up, drawing a community’s attention to
an important issue, and directing decision-makers towards a
solution.
 Campaigning involves putting a problem on the agenda,
providing a solution to that problem and building support for
action to solve the problem.
 Campaigns can involve many specific, short-term activities to
reach a long-term vision of change.
 A campaign is a series of actions directed at changing the
policies, positions or programmes of any type of institution.
 Campaigning involves working with other people and
organisations to make a difference.
 Campaigning consists of differing strategies aimed at change at
the local, provincial, national and/or international levels.
Types of Campaigns
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Mobilising and involving people – for example, anti-crime
campaigns or the polio campaign
Presurising decision makers – for example, marches to councils /
police stations demanding national or global action.
Informing and educating the public – for example, voter
education campaigns
Changing behaviour and attitudes – for example, HIV/AIDS
campaigns such as the TAC campaign detailed at the end of this
section.
And finally, campaigns that build a positive image for an
organisation or a brand – for example, the campaign to market
South Africa as a tourism destination.
Campaign Tools
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Using the Media
Building networks and coalitions
Advocacy and lobbying government
Direct Action
Action Research
Using Formal Political Processes
Using the Law
Using the media
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Once you have done your research and analysis,
you have to develop a clear communications
strategy.
Communication is at the centre of any campaign
strategy.
A successful organisation and campaign needs to
build a profile to which people can relate. A good
communications strategy will ensure that the right
information reaches your target audiences
(supporters, decision-makers, opponents, public)
both inside and outside the campaign.
Media is the most common tool supporting any
communication strategy.
How to develop a campaign and
communication strategy
Your communication strategy should include the following elements:
 Identify the key message themes that you want to communicate
to your target audience.
 Develop a communications strategy to get your message across
to the audience.
 Develop a slogan and a media design identity like a logo.
 Draw up a media plan with budgets and time-frames.
 Develop a public relations plan.
 Develop a campaign and training strategy that focuses on :
 Reaching and mobilising your target audience
 Training and developing capacity among the key players in your
organisation who have to implement the campaign.
Critical success factors
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Understanding media bias to create stories and hold events that
are tailored to specific media interests.
Follow up all stories and interviews. All media is under-funded
and almost no media outlet has the time and resources to
investigate all the news it needs or wants to cover.
Build personal relationships with as many media outlets as
possible. Trust and relationships are crucial to working with the
media. Give them reliable and good informationл
Provide clear simple information to minimize the risk of your
message being diluted. Most media forms require simple, clear
messages.
Tell stories. Be sure to translate your information into something
that is understandable to the general public.
Example 1
A human story about tuberculosis
 Fact: 11 million children under five die each
year of preventable illnesses.
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Translate it to story ?
Example 1
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Story: Virgilio lives in East Timor. He is two
and has tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is one of
the major public health problems faced by
people in East Timor. Around 500 people in
every 100 000 are infected, with 4 000 new
cases per year. In England, Wales and
Ireland there are only 12 cases per 100 000.
(Source: ……… information fact file)
Example 1
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Provide a story that has drama.
As far as possible, try to plan media events to occur
when there is no other major event likely to
dominate the news.
Always be responsive to the media. There is no
such thing as ‘no comment’.
Follow up on media coverage. If reporting is
inaccurate, respectfully call the reporter and correct
the information.
Be creative. The media likes something interesting.
Media actions
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Press releases
Media alerts
Media events or conferences
Go-and-see trips
Photography
Websites
Email messaging
Cell phone messaging
Community meetings
Goodwill ambassadors
Advantages and disadvantages of different
media- example
Display media – posters, calendars, wall charts, etc
Advantages
 popular, visualz
 longevity, public relations potential
Disadvantages
 limited space for information
 audience must be able to read and understand the
language
Advantages and disadvantages of different
media- example
Mass electronic media – radio, television
Advantages Disadvantages
 direct
 reach large audiences
 accessible
Disadvantages
 require production skills
 time-bound
 can send mixed message
Modern media usage examples
SMS technology in the Philippines
 In January 2001, thousands of Filipinos, unhappy
with their corrupt government, took to the streets to
demonstrate against President Joseph Estrada,
ultimately forcing him to resign.
 Mobile phones played a key role in stimulating and
organising the protests – using not voice
communications, but short text messages (SMSs)
sent from one phone to another, or from one phone
to many others. First they were used to send
political jokes; later they spread the word on where
demonstrations were being held.
Modern media usage examples
Using email lists to work together
 Email is the simplest and most readily available form
of online communication. A mailing list is an
automatic message-sending programme that stores
a list of email addresses for all the people who need
to be linked into the campaign. In order for the list to
work effectively, the people on it must all have a
common purpose and be committed to using email
regularly, and it must have a facilitator who is
responsible for updating everyone.
Some concrete modern media tools for
campaigns
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Bulk Email Software Mass Mailer
Blogs, discussion forums
SMS
Easy to communicate tools – directories
with phones, e-mail addresses of specific
target groups
E-voting tools
E-games
Building digital communities
Some sensitive issues related to using modern
media against discrimination, xenophobia,
tolerance
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access of disadvantaged people
Language barriers
skills to use the media
confidence to use new media
abilities to access (of disabled people)