Advocating Through the Media: An Introduction
April 6, 2013
The media today
• A changing landscape, increasingly concentrated – i.e.
fewer outlets, fewer dedicated beats
 Greater need to educate
• Access to traditional and social media 24-7
• Journalists’ objectives:
 Defend the public’s right to information
 Be honest and balanced
 Beat the competition – break the story
 Be seen / heard / read
 Meet tight deadlines
What makes news
• A strong news hook to build the story on
• Element of change which makes the story interesting
to the public:
 Community or social impact
 Saving lives, saving money
 First, only, largest
 Conflict, scandal
• Key components to shape the story:
 Characters – the people involved
 Problem – what’s wrong
 Solution – change needed
Advocating through the media
•
Media can be used as a conduit to share messages
with a broader audience
Advocacy
Media
•
Communicate with media for two reasons:
1.
2.
To influence or change public opinion
To make a private issue public and put pressure on the
government to bring about change
Advocating through the media
•
In advocacy campaigns, going to the media is not
usually the first step, with a few exceptions:
 To set the stage, educate or provide background on a little
known issue (no action needed)
 Elevate an issue in the public domain when time is of the
essence (action needed)
How media influences change
Current Issues
Media
Government
Education and
Awareness
Public Policy
Change
Public
Key messages
• Designed to tell the story or explain the issue simply
and concisely
• Often developed using these key points:
 Context – background on situation
 Problem – what’s wrong
 Solution – change needed
 Action – the “ask”
• What are your key messages?
 The key elements of your personal story or experience with
aHUS that are most relevant to the campaign
Key Messages - Context
• Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (aHUS) is a very
rare, chronic and life-threatening, genetic condition
which can cause blood vessel damage, abnormal
blood clotting, organ damage, heart attack, stroke,
kidney failure and death.
• The prognosis for patients with aHUS has been poor,
with existing supportive therapies unproven and
unreliable.
Key Messages - Problem
• The first and only Health Canada approved treatment
option available to the small number of Canadians
battling aHUS is not yet funded by provincial and
territorial drug programs.
Key Messages - Solution
• Soliris is the first and only pharmaceutical treatment
for aHUS, and has been shown to significantly
improve patients’ health and quality of life.
• Now that it has been approved in Canada, Soliris must
be made immediately accessible to all Canadian
children and adult aHUS patients who require this
life-saving treatment.
Key Messages - Action
• All provincial and territorial governments must
make an expedited decision to provide all aHUS
patients across the country with immediate and
equitable access to Soliris through public funding.
 Immediate access to the drug would have a profoundly
positive impact on the few Canadians living with aHUS,
while any delay in funding treatment could lead to
devastating consequences.
Practice and prepare
• Keep key messages short and simple
 Practice getting them across in short sound bites
 Average TV sound bite is just seven seconds; radio clip is 15
seconds
• Make your key messages your mantra
 Use in all media encounters
 Modify to resonate with reporter/outlet/audience
• Review facts, statistics and background information
 Be aware of what you don’t know
• Prepare to use “bridging” as a technique
Conducting the interview
• Focus on your key messages
 Don’t be afraid to repeat them
 Keep your answers short
• Keep conversation lively
 Remain focused but avoid “broken record” repetition
• Say what you want to say
 Take control of the interview
 Make it real – no one knows your story better than you
• Answer unasked questions
 Reporter may not ask specifically, but what do you want to
tell them?
Bridging
• Technique uses everyday phrases to transition
between the topic the reporter is questioning you on
and the topic (key message) you want to discuss
 That’s a ____________ question:
• “good” or “difficult”, “important”, “interesting”
 What I really want to emphasize is…
 What’s important about that is…
 What that means is…
 And don’t forget…
How we can help
• We’re here to guide you throughout the interview
process
 We conduct over-the-phone media training sessions and
refreshers prior to interviews
 We will help you tailor your own key messages and tell
your personal story
 We provide ongoing support
• We know being a media spokesperson is not for
everyone
 We are here to help if you choose to do this work
Questions?
Joanne Koskie
Cohn & Wolfe
416-924-5700 ext. 4049
416-400-6352 (cell)
joanne.koskie@cohnwolfe.ca
Beth Daniher
Cohn & Wolfe
416-924-5700 ext. 4070
beth.daniher@cohnwolfe.ca