Media Advocacy Planning

Organizations that want to change policy or influence decision-makers enlist BMSG to help them develop a media advocacy plan, a message strategy, and an access strategy for becoming part of the public debate in the news media.

Strategic Consultation

We help public health advocates plan strategic media opportunities and provide feedback and coaching during every step of implementation, from writing letters to the editor to preparing for a tough media interview.

Training

Organizations contract with BMSG to help their staff develop their capacity to access the news media, frame public health issues from a policy perspective, and advance these policies over time. Our dynamic, interactive trainings draw on the examples of others who have used media to influence public policy. Participants build their skills through role-playing, small-group exercises, and, in advanced trainings, on-camera interview experience. Examples from television, newspapers, and radio are integrated into the training, which can last from one to four days.

Case Studies

BMSG has been commissioned to tell stories of how local groups apply media advocacy to change policy. Case studies examine how media advocacy was used by the Henry Horner Mothers Guild, a grass-roots public housing group, to put pressure on the Chicago Housing Authority to improve living conditions [contact us for a copy]; by the Violence Prevention Initiative to ban Saturday night specials (junk handguns) in California [contact us for a copy]; by the Coalition on Alcohol Outlet Issues to stop proliferation of alcohol outlets in Oakland, California [Issue 3 pdf]; and by the Regional Asthma Management Project to change health plan policies about screening for children for asthma.

Framing Memos

As part of our applied research program, we write framing memos, which examine how controversial issues are discussed in the news. These memos clarify the arguments for and against issues so that advocates learn to understand the continuum of debate and anticipate opposing viewpoints. We have published framing memos on banning Saturday night specials [Issue 2 pdf], gun policies in Midwest newspapers [Issue 8 pdf] , childhood lead poisoning [Issue 6 pdf] , child-care [Issue 7 pdf] , and affirmative action [contact us for a copy].

Content Analysis

Content analyses are in-depth studies of scientifically selected samples of news, entertainment or advertising. They help public health advocates understand the information the public receives about health issues from the media, and help identify what's missing. We have published content analyses of TV and newspaper coverage of various public health topics, including alcohol [contact us for a copy], youth and violence [contact us for a copy], child care [Issue 11 pdf] , children's health [Issue 4 pdf] , childhood nutrition policy [Issue 10 pdf] , and American values in the news on children's issues [Issue 12 pdf] .

Journalism Education

Part of BMSG's mission is to help journalists improve their coverage of public health issues by asking better questions about the real rates, causes and solutions of public health problems. Because we research public health issues that often receive scant attention in the news, we uncover potential story ideas and new questions for reporters to ask. Reporters can find our research-based story suggestions in areas of children's health [Issue 4 pdf] , childhood lead poisoning [Issue 6 pdf] , child-care (including the business of child-care) [Issue 11 pdf] , and violence among youth and school shootings [Issue 9 pdf] . BMSG partners with journalists and journalism pofessors to create tools and bring training on public health perspectives directly into newsrooms. See details from our Reporting on Violence project.