Making Your Point to the Media
July 17, 2013
2:00 – 3:00 pm EST
*This call will be recorded and slides/video will be sent
to all registrants via email.
Using GoToWebinar
•
During presentations, please type any questions into the box in your
dashboard, we’ll address them at the end of each presentation.
•
This seminar will be recorded; a link will be sent to all registrants
after the call.
•
Register for upcoming webinars and see archived recordings at
www.foodday.org/webinars. For questions, please contact
foodday@cspinet.org.
Food Day Overview
• Food Day is a nationwide initiative to promote healthy,
affordable, sustainable food and better food policies. It
builds year-round and culminates on October 24. It was
launched in 2011 by the nonprofit Center for Science in
the Public Interest, publisher of the Nutrition Action
Healthletter.
We want your input!
http://www.foodday.org/food_literacy
Comment between July 19 – August 17 and help us
create a food literacy rubric that will guide our
food education campaign.
Call Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
Catherine Kastleman, Food Day
Professor George Lakoff
Q&A (5-10 minutes)
Ingrid Daffner Krasnow and Lezak Shallat, Berkeley Media
Studies Group
5. Q&A (5-10 minutes)
What You Need to Know about Moral and Political Framing
For Food Day
George Lakoff
Goldman Distinguished Professor
Of Cognitive Science and Linguistics
University of California, Berkeley
What You Need to Know
About the Mind and Language
• 98% of thought is unconscious.
• Conscious thought is structured by unconscious frames.
• Frames are neural structures used in thinking
• Frames define how you see the world
• All words are defined in terms of frames
What You Need to Know
About the Frames and and Politics
• Frames form a hierarchy: Higher frames dominate lower
frames
• Moral frames are at the top of the hierarchy
• All politics is moral
• Conservatives and Progressives have opposite moral frames
• Many people have both, applied to different issues
Metaphorical Thought Governs Politics
• Political frames arise from family-based frames plus the
conceptual metaphor: Governing Institutions Are Families
• Nurturant Parent Family maps to Progressive Morality
• Strict Father Family maps to Conservative Morality
• This is the basic political division in the country
• This division gives rise to opposite views of democracy:
Public Provisions vs. Liberty (only individual responsibility)
Things to Remember
• Frames Trump Facts! The facts alone won’t set you free.
• The reason: In your brain, your frames are neural circuits.
• Your neural circuits determine what you can understand and
what makes sense to you.
• If the facts don’t fit the frames, the frames will stay and the facts
will be ignored or ridiculed
Things to Remember
• Facts are important. If your facts are to matter, they
must be framed in terms of your values.
• Using the other sides frames strengthens the other side’s
values
•
• Avoid the other side’s frames
• Language evokes frames
• Avoid the other side’s language - use your own moral
language
Things to Remember
• Repetition is crucial
• Negating a frame activates the frame:
Don’t think of an elephant!
• Food Day is an attempt to create new frames in the public.
• Experiences are crucial to frame creation.
• Experience makes framing believable.
• You need narratives with Good Guys and Bad Guys
The Strict Father Family
•
Father is the ultimate authority. None higher.
•
Authority must be maintained above all.
•
Father knows right from wrong.
•
Children learn morality by being punished for
disobedience. Punishment is morally required.
• Morality requires discipline. If you are undisciplined,
you cannot be moral.
The Strict Father Family
• Father protects and supports financially.
• All responsibility is personal responsibility:
you are responsible for yourself and not for others.
• Adults are responsible for their children; not for other
people’s.
• Communication is one-way: No back-talk.
The Nurturant Parent Family
• Parents have equal responsibility.
• Parents use and teach empathy
and responsibility for oneself and for others.
• Well-being and fulfillment are major goals.
The Nurturant Parent Family
• Parents gain authority by earning respect
and respecting their children.
• Open two-way communication
• It takes a village ….
These family models,
when mapped onto politics,
lead to opposite views of Democracy
and to opposite views of Real Food
Progressive Democracy
• Democracy in America is based on a moral principle:
Citizens care about one another and act responsibly on that care.
•
Citizens have both individual and social responsibility.
• The role of the government is to promote the Public Good:
to empower and protect all citizens equally.
Progressive Democracy
• The Public Good requires a government that provides the
conditions for freedom:
infrastructure, education, health protections, safety nets,
physical protection, a system of justice, government research,
market oversight, economic stability, environmental
protection, etc.
• You are not free without them.
• A vibrant Private requires a robust Public. Nobody makes
it on their own.
• Private enterprise requires robust public provisions.
Conservative Democracy
• Democracy is based on a moral principle: Liberty — Citizens should
be free to seek their own interests regardless of the interests of
others.
• Responsibility is personal responsibility alone: you are not
responsible for others and others are not responsible for you.
• Those who succeed deserve to, and those who don’t succeed don’t
deserve to.
• This principle imposes a moral hierarchy, which should be reflected
in political and economic power
Conservative Democracy
The Moral Order: Power should reflect moral authority.
God Above Man
Man above Nature
Adults above children
Successes above Failures
Western Culture above other Cultures
America above Foreign Nations
Americans above Foreigners
Men above Women
Whites above Nonwhites
Straights above Gays
Christians above Nonchristians
A Governing Institution Is A Family
Governing Institutions include: Schools, Churches, Teams, Businesses,
The Market, Governments
Example: The Market
“Let the Market decide.” The Market as Decider – the Strict Father.
The Laissez-faire Market is Natural : Self-interest above all is natural
The Laissez-faire Market is Moral: If everyone seeks their selfinterest, the interests of all will be maximized. (Greed is good)
The Market rewards financial discipline and punishes the lack of it.
The Laissez-faire Market, like the strict father, is the ultimate
authority – no higher authority (e.g. government and science)
Therefore,
No regulations,
No taxation,
No unions or worker rights,
No tort cases,
Science is subordinate to the market.
How does our political divide
apply to
Food Day?
Food Day is an Inherently Nurturant Enterprise
Real food connects you to the natural world and to others
Fulfillment:
• Enough food.
• Taste matters. Find Real Food that you enjoy.
• Health matters. Real food is healthy. Being sick sucks.
The Bad Guys
Avoid Poisons:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Fructose and sucrose (which is half fructose),
Pesticides (poisonous chemicals that kill bugs),
Transfat and high fat foods,
Chemicals that replace real foods in processed foods.
Processed foods contains pesticides, unless they say organic or
pesticide-free.
Anti-biotiocs in food.
Experiences
• Read labels out loud.
• Learn to cook: At least oatmeal, rice (brown, red, or
black), corn (or cornmeal / polenta ).
• Go online and find a recipe for a real food you like.
•
•
•
Make a map of your supermarket and mark where the real food is.
Get the Good Guide App free on your cell phone. It reads the bar
codes on labels and tells you what is in the food.
Find Plants you like to eat: Fruit, Vegetables, Nuts and seeds, whole
grains
Why Food is a Political Issue
Progressive Values Are Nurturant and Lead to:
Caring about Sufficient, Enjoyable, Healthy Food For All
Governmental Responsibility for Real Food Values
Conservative Values are Strict and Lead to:
Maximizing Profit in the Market Over Real Food
Personal Responsibility Alone
“Liberty” — Individuals and Corporations Ungoverned
The Farm Bill Is At the Heart of Food Politics
Why Food is an Educational Issue
•
•
•
•
•
Education is, or should be, a nurturant enterprise
You can’t learn if you are hungry, sick, or malnourished
Food is at the heart of human existence
Food is social: it connects you to others
Food is environmental: it connects you to the natural
world
• Real food is a human, social, economic, and environmental
issue
Every parent and every school should be teaching real food.
What to Prepare For
Attacks: You will be attacked as the “liberal elite” — an idea created
by conservatives to recruit low-income working people who have
some strict father values. Expect to be called “foodies.”
Attack can also come from minority group liberals and not affordable
to low income people, or as not in the given culture.
Attempts to Co-opt: The processed food industry will try to use Food
Day as a marketing ploy — we serve salads, egg-white sandwiches,
high-protein burgers, etc.
Both: See Atlantic Monthly (July/August 2013): :How Science is
Engineering Healthy Junk Food. Attack on “Pollanites”
Do not negate! Stick to your frames. Repeat them. Repeat them
again. Avoid such “debates” framed by adversaries!
What to Prepare For
Both Attack and Attempt to Co-opt at once: See Atlantic Monthly
(July/August 2013): “How Science is Engineering Healthy Junk
Food.” Attack on “Pollanites” and casting real food as antiscience and anti-working people.
Do not negate! Stick to your frames. Repeat them. Repeat them
again. Avoid such “debates” framed by adversaries!
Food Day should be as American as apples, farmers’ markets,
and home-cooked dinners.
Food Day education should teach reading labels aloud, learning
about chemicals, and learning about nutrition and ecology.
Making Your Point to the Media:
A Webinar in Preparation for Food Day 2013
Ingrid Daffner Krasnow, MPH
Lezak Shallat, MA
Berkeley Media Studies Group
• Research on news coverage of
public health issues
• Training and strategic consultation for
community groups and advocates
• Professional education for journalists
Goals for Today
• Learn what framing is, and how it works in our
heads and in the news media.
• Understand the importance of the “environmental”
frame to promote policy change.
• Learn how to access media to get your voice
heard.
• Share lessons from the field.
Layers of Strategy
• Overall strategy
• Media strategy
• Message strategy
• Access strategy
Message Strategy
• Pay attention to order, which means prompting
the environmental perspectives first.
• State your values.
• Be sure the solution gets as much attention—
or more—than the problem.
• Assign responsibility for a policy solution.
Strategic Message Development
Strategic messages answer the following
questions:
• What do we need? (Environmental cue)
• Why does it matter? (Values statement)
• What should be done? (Policy Proposal)
Remember to think about both your
messenger and your audience.
Prevention
Children are healthier when they
eat plenty of fresh fruits and
vegetables.
When fresh produce is not available
to buy with EBT cards, some
families can’t afford to buy it, which
means some children don’t get the
food they need to be healthy.
We can prevent poor health now
and in the future if we accept EBT
cards at our local farmers’ markets.
ENVIRONMENT
AL CUE
+
VALUE
+
POLICY
PROPOSAL
Source: What Surrounds Us Shapes Us. Berkeley Media Studies Group & Strategic Alliance
Ingenuity or “Can-Do” Spirit
Children are healthier when they
eat plenty of fresh fruits and
vegetables.
Fortunately, we have many local
farmers’ markets that bring
fresh, locally grown produce to
our community.
Accepting EBT cards at farmers’
markets would allow all children
to eat a healthy diet.
ENVIRONMENT
AL CUE
+
VALUE
+
POLICY
PROPOSAL
Source: What Surrounds Us Shapes Us. Berkeley Media Studies Group & Strategic Alliance
Fairness
Children are healthier when they
eat plenty of fresh fruits and
vegetables.
ENVIRONMENT
AL CUE
It’s not fair that some children in
our city have access to healthy
produce while others don’t.
VALUE
+
+
Accepting EBT cards at farmers’
markets would allow all children
to eat a healthy diet.
POLICY
PROPOSAL
Source: What Surrounds Us Shapes Us. Berkeley Media Studies Group & Strategic Alliance
Layers of Strategy
• Overall strategy
• Media strategy
• Message strategy
• Access strategy
Access Strategy
6-Week
Food/Other
Countdown Policy News
Sept 19
Sept 26
Oct 3
Oct 10
Oct 17
Oct 24
Advocacy
Goals
News
Hooks
Media
Actions
Making Your Voice Heard
"It's an important step
forward," says Michael
Jacobson, executive
director of the
advocacy group Center
For Science in the Public
Interest, which has
been a long-time critic
of McDonald's. "The
other fast-food chains
will feel the competitive
pressure to provide the
same information."
All Politics is Local
Piggybacking on Breaking News
How could you link your advocacy efforts
to current food and beverage issues?
What could you say to advance the larger
dialogue?
Media coverage Food Day 2012:
A quick review
Challenges to making your stories
newsworthy: What can you do?
• Identify the problem, solution and why it matters.
• Understand how the issue is currently framed.
• Reframe an individual problem to a social issue.
• Show the solution you want to see.
• Assign responsibility for a policy solution.
Thank You!
Ingrid Daffner Krasnow, MPH & Lezak Shallat, MA
Contact us: daffnerkrasnow@bmsg.org
shallat@bmsg.org
Visit us: www.bmsg.org
Follow us: @bmsgdotorg
Find us on Facebook: Berkeley Media Studies Group