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Media advocacy in catalyzing actions by decision-makers: case study of the advance family planning initiative in Kenya

Irene choge.

1 Advance Family Planning Project, Jhpiego, Nairobi, Kenya

Rammah Mwalimu

Sam mulyanga, sally njiri, beatrice kwachi, susan ontiri.

2 International Center for Reproductive Health, Mombasa, Kenya

Associated Data

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Media can not only play a critical role in informing and educating the public on health issues, but it can make a powerful contribution to advocacy of public health matters. In Kenya, Advance Family Planning (AFP) initiative used this approach to further the country's progress in achieving family planning goals. This case study documents AFP experience in supporting media to engage leaders and decision-makers on the need to unlock bureaucratic bottlenecks that limit success of family planning services. AFP's media efforts added weight to the work of advocates who push for increased political commitments and investments in family planning. Media advocacy efforts helped catalyze actions by decision-makers across Kenya—focusing on strengthening accessibility and availability of contraceptive methods and fast-tracking implementation of policy actions to address adolescent pregnancy. Media advocacy efforts contributed to advancing family planning initiatives in the country. Media advocacy should be a key pillar of family planning programs and of other sectors.

1. Introduction

The media is considered a critical channel for information dissemination and communicating a broad range of health messages ( 1 , 2 ). Public health programs have used broadcast media (radio and television), print media (newspapers), and social media to reach large audiences in awareness creation and behavior change communication campaigns ( 3 – 5 ). In addition to being a source of information, education, and entertainment, media can also be a channel for advocacy in advancing public health policy initiatives ( 6 ). Specifically, it can be used as an advocacy tool to help leaders set policy agendas, form discussions on various topical issues, and support perspectives that can shape the political decision-making process ( 7 ). But, the media in this regard is underutilized ( 6 ). Many individuals, including policymakers who are often the decision-makers, and public health programs do not appreciate the role that media has in shaping and improving public health programs and in holding officials accountable for their commitments. Moreover, media organizations often do not see themselves as contributors to public health, even though they play an important role in providing accurate, evidence-based, data-driven information on health topics ( 8 ). Media's role in advancing policy discourse is critical as oftentimes it can help drive citizens to pressure leaders to address health concerns ( 6 ).

In Kenya, the Ministry of Health typically uses broadcast and print media to widely convey health-related commitments and messages, including those around family planning (FP) ( 5 ). Many FP and social behavior change programs promote health messages on contraceptives and strive to dispel myths and misconceptions among communities ( 9 – 11 ). While a project may include an advocacy component in addition to core activities, e.g., service delivery or demand generation, there is limited information on how health programs, specifically FP, have used media for advocacy and accountability.

Advance Family Planning (AFP) implemented in Kenya by Jhpiego aims to increase the financial investment and political commitment needed to ensure access to quality (FP) through evidence-based advocacy. AFP project incorporated the use of media advocacy as a core component of its interventions in Kenya to complement AFP and stakeholders’ advocacy efforts by deploying media strategies that generate and sustain dialogue on the family planning needs in Kenya and beyond. The media created awarenes of family planning and the need for it among the people while challenging policy makers to play their role in helping improve access and acceptability of contraceptives. This paper highlights the lessons learned, challenges encountered, and recommendations for using media as an advocacy tool for FP programs in Kenya.

2. Program description

AFP was launched in 2009 to increase financial investments and political commitments to ensure access to voluntary, quality, FP through an evidence-based SMART advocacy (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) approach ( 12 ). This approach is a guide to developing advocacy strategies that lead to quick wins by reaching the right decision-maker with the right message at the right time.

In 2016, a media component was incorporated into the Kenya project to reinforce accountability on FP commitments. The project worked with journalists and editors from national and local media houses in 16 AFP focus counties (Kitui, Makueni, Kwale, Kakamega, Tharaka Nithi, Busia, Siaya, Homabay, Migori, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kisii, Nyeri, Narok, Kajiado, Baringo, and Nyamira) ( Figure 1 ). The project focused on these counties because they had existing champions, political leadership, and had prioritized improving FP indicators in their county action plans.

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Kenya map showing AFP Media intervention counties.

2.1. Media advocacy engagement strategies

2.1.1. know your advocacy needs: create a distinct media strategy for advocacy.

Media advocacy is defined as the strategic use of mass media to advance policy change ( 13 ). We developed a media advocacy strategy in 2016 to advance our overall FP advocacy plan. With the understanding that media advocacy is the strategic use of mass media for advocacy and centered on decision-makers to change policy, the strategy aimed to engage the media to produce data-driven, compelling FP stories and reports to catalyze decision-makers to act. The media strategy focused on engaging the media to overcome FP policy and implementation barriers; influence national and county governments, donors, and implementing partners to adopt or improve FP programs; profile evidence related to policy and programs under consideration or in practice; and refute misinformation. The strategy also focused on unlocking new domestic funding for programs, including private sector funds, highlighting progress towards FP commitments and plans, and supporting accountability.

The media strategy sought the production of newsworthy stories that would lead to “earned media,” in the form of donated public service announcements and additional news coverage, rather than paid media placements ( 14 ). To lead the media component, we recruited an award-winning journalist who was employed as part of the advocacy team. The health journalist supported journalists to access the latest data and research as well as training to improve their family planning storytelling. The project leveraged her expertise and understanding of how the media works to pitch FP as newsworthy content, leading to buy-in by media editors.

2.1.2. Understand the media: conduct a media landscape assessment

In 2016, we conducted a media landscape assessment in Kenya to understand how different media houses work, identify the kind of stories they carry, and analyze how they frame issues. The assessment focused on reporting on FP to identify ways it could be improved. Terminologies related to FP were identified and used to review content from the major national print publications and radio and television stations.

The assessment team classified stories into feature stories (in-depth pieces) and event-related (news) stories to understand which newsrooms and reporters covered which type of health, reproductive health, or FP stories. The assessment provided insights into how different media houses treat stories about development and health, specifically reproductive health and FP. The assessment looked at story placement in newspapers and the amount of airtime given to FP stories. It also identified newsrooms with special segments on development, for potential FP stories. The assessors analyzed journalists’ style of reporting and became familiar with their work. They also conducted an analysis of newsroom editors and leadership to understand their positions on FP topics.

2.1.3. Decide who to involve: select media houses and journalists

Based on the media landscape assessment, the project cultivated relationships with 16 media houses at the national and county levels. At the national level, we targeted organizations that have a wide, national reach and those with special development sections. At the county level, we focused on popular local radio stations.

AFP in Kenya organized one-on-one meetings with national and county-level editors and leadership, since they decide when or whether to carry a story. Our team explained how coverage of FP stories from different angles would help enrich their news coverage and discussed possible partnerships with the newsrooms in areas of access to reliable data; facilitating interviews with credible sources, including policymakers, FP users, and advocates and critics of FP; and capacity building for journalists. We secured the buy-in from editors who saw it as an opportunity to enrich their content with well-researched, in-depth, and compelling stories.

AFP requested the editors to select journalists for capacity-building workshops to institutionalize this engagement within the media houses. All the editors from the selected media houses responded positively, underscoring the importance of the assessment in establishing their interest. Editors chose journalists who were interested in reporting or writing feature stories on health, specifically reproductive health. At subnational level, selections were based on journalists’ interests in feature stories since many local radio stations do not have an expansive pool of beat reporters who specialize in health. Between 2016 and 2022, 41 journalists were identified from four national newspapers, four national TV stations, one subnational TV station and 18 radio stations (15 local stations, one national station and two international stations) ( Table 1 ).

Media outlets by channel engaged by AFP.

AFP Kenya staff and newsroom editors from the selected media houses who were willing to provide hands-on mentorship worked with the journalists and developed a training guide that combined three main tracks: storytelling, research data and the practice of Family Planning.

2.1.4. Build capacity: develop and implement a capacity building strategy

Editors publish or kill a story based on the quality of an article or its lack of newsworthiness. Many health and development stories, especially FP stories, die because they may not have sufficient data or evidence to underpin their storytelling. We committed to help solve this problem by using workshops to build the capacity of journalists and by sharing more data and scientific evidence on family planning. With better access to data and research and armed with better storytelling skills, the journalists were able to produce numerous compelling stories that were published or aired on different media outlets. Between 2016 and 2022, we conducted 14 capacity building workshops for 41 journalists.

These full-day workshops ran for five days. The composition of participants varied, at times they were based on their outlets—radio, tv, and print and local vs national—other times there was a mix. Discussions, which also varied depending on current events, covered a wide spectrum of topics on health, science, and journalism, including reporting gaps and opportunities in health journalism. Participants learned how to localize a story if they were producing for a local audience and about story angles—how one idea could yield several pieces over time. They also learned how to use data in storytelling in order to make their stories complete as well as inspire decision-maker actions.

While participating journalists had radio, television, or print background, the workshops developed their multimedia storytelling skills and used practical exercises to look at how reporters can harness social media to tell and promote their stories. They also reviewed multimedia data resources and analytical tools. Journalists from national newspapers and television seemed acquainted with these skills, but journalists from the subnational level, which forms a large part of Kenya's pool of journalists, had not been exposed to social media storytelling tools.

During each workshop, journalists and their mentors went to the field to look for stories and then worked together during the production process. The workshops explored the concept of narrowcasting, as opposed to broadcasting, of directing FP and healthcare stories to the right channels and using different approaches for different audiences. The workshops also included story congresses, which provide journalists with an opportunity to share story ideas and get input from fellow journalists and editors on how to produce it.

2.1.5. Monitor Implementation: conduct progress review to support the trained journalists

We developed a monitoring and evaluation plan that included indicators for tracking media advocacy initiatives. The project developed a story log template, which was completed by the trained journalists and included links to the articles, to track stories that had been aired by the journalists and actions taken because of the stories. Journalists who participated in the workshops shared logs of their stories, which the project used to determine which stories required follow-up. We created a WhatsApp mobile phone group to bring together the trained journalists, the mentors, and AFP staff. The journalists used the group to share ideas and asked for guidance. The mentors advised on approaches and other mentorship opportunities or collaborations.

From 2018–2022, we organized follow-up media workshops to evaluate and improve the capacity of participating journalists by assessing their progress in storytelling and offering additional mentorship.

2.1.6. Thinking beyond the project: enhance sustainability

As part of its sustainability plan, we approached its pool of senior editor mentors to discuss ways in which they can continue mentoring journalists on a pro bono basis. They agreed to form an editorial mentorship board. The editorial mentorship board played a critical role in continuing virtual mentorship during the COVID-19 lockdown, when in-person review meetings were cancelled. With COVID-19 shifting attention to the pandemic, the board developed FP story ideas to help the journalists to put a spotlight on continuity of essential services during the pandemic.

3. Impact of media engagement

The media plays a critical role in setting agendas and framing issues. FP advocates have used stories produced by journalists to catalyze decision-makers to act and hold them accountable. To harness this unique role, we acknowledged the journalists’ independence; the project did not influence the story production process—all stories produced were led by journalists. Whereas AFP supported journalists, we did not demand any publicity from them, only encouraging them to produce the best stories on the cause. This allowed journalists to focus on telling the best possible stories they could. Cognizant of the fact that media houses are wary of promoting brands, our approach was to develop champions who can tell a story based on its newsworthiness without receiving incentives or paid advertisement. This freedom may have contributed to several advocacy wins as illustrated below.

  • • Enhancing accountability: In January 2019, three Migori-based journalists became aware of a stock-out of FP supplies in some of the facilities in Migori County and produced and aired a radio story covering the problem. Then, they aired an interactive radio talk show on FP with the county health promotion coordinator. During this show, women called in to concerns about contraceptive stockouts in some of the public health facilities. The county health promotion coordinator promised to act. Following the show, the county health department reviewed the status of FP stocks in all facilities and redistributed supplies to facilities experiencing stockouts. The county’s health promotion officer then issued a statement on radio about the redistribution and encouraged citizens to go to the facilities for services.
  • • Catalyzing action on teenage pregnancy: The 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey revealed an adolescent pregnancy rate in Kwale County of 24%, which surpassed the national average of 18% ( 15 ). Trained journalists from national and county media platforms aired stories on adolescent pregnancy in Kwale County, including a documentary on NTV, a national TV station, which ran in September 2016; it won an international journalism award, the Michael Elliot Award; newspaper article segment on World Contraception Day, September 26, 2016; and weekly FP segments on Kwale’s local radio station (Radio Kaya) that showcased the gravity of the adolescent pregnancy situation in the county. Based on this increased visibility of the issues, in 2017, the Kwale County ministries of health, education, and youth and gender collaborated to develop a new costed action plan to address the growing concern of teenage pregnancy. The county went on to develop a multisectoral action plan to address teenage pregnancy. Following this media coverage, one of the county government health managers commented during a multisectoral teenage pregnancy working group meeting , “We saw [teenage pregnancy] as an issue, but the media coverage helped in raising the awareness of the community and other partners, who now want the matter addressed.”
  • • Continuity of essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic: In March 2020, the onset of COVID-19 pandemic led to government mitigation measures, including the abrupt interruption of FP services. In April 2020, FP uptake based on the health management information system service statistics data, dropped to the lowest level in 14 months (approximately 415,000 FP visits against an average of 433,000 over the previous 14 months). Many essential health services were halted while primary health care facilities only offered emergency services. The journalists under AFP, highlighted stories on how essential services, including FP, had been affected. Consequently, the reproductive health and FP stakeholders engaged with the Council of Governors to advocate for continuity of essential health services during the COVID-19 response. As a result, in May 2020, the Council of Governors Chairperson issued a memorandum to all 47 counties instructing them to provide essential health services, including FP, alongside COVID-19 response efforts. The memorandum emphasized the need to ensure the continued supply of FP commodities. The Ministry of Health reinforced the directive with specific guidelines for continuing essential services. In the months that followed, FP service provision not only recovered from its previous dip but also increased to levels higher than those seen in 2019 (an average of 470,000 FP visits).
  • • Unlocking private sector money: Public health programs utilize media for health education and communication and, in many instances, will pay for segments to be aired. Media houses consider these to be advertisements and a source of income. As part of its media advocacy strategy, we engaged senior editors and managers of popular county radio stations to provide airtime for FP stories at their own expense. This was achieved by packaging FP as a critical driver of community development and making a business case for the media. Between 2016 and 2021, 11 radio stations dedicated free airtime for FP stories, which would have cost $757,150, excluding production costs. Commitments from local media houses included airing feature stories that linked FP to development and following up the stories with live, call-in discussions by hosting experts in the studio. The free segments provided an opportunity for stakeholders to provide FP information, including dispelling myths and misconceptions, without cost.

3.1. Unanticipated outcome of media engagement

3.1.1. establishment of fp journalist community of practice.

Training of journalists on their own has not been effective in the past due to lack of continuous engagement. Therefore, we set up a community of practice to bring together participating journalists and editors to provide a platform for continuous engagement, peer-to-peer learning, sharing of resources, and discussing challenges and opportunities. Due to the shared vision that was inculcated from the onset, journalists from competing media houses decided to collaborate to amplify FP stories nationwide. They formed a WhatsApp group for day-to-day interactions.

3.1.2. Journalist-led FP stories

The workshops had the corresponding benefits of introducing the process of creating a critical mass of FP storytellers in Kenya and “strengthening the program's relationship with partners in the country.” As a result of the first workshop, within the first two months, journalists published or aired 31 stories. Because these stories were journalist-led, no payment was made for the coverage, which is integral for sustainability. Continuous mentorship sustained momentum, leading to an increase in the number of relevant stories aired at various media outlets. By the end of 2021, more than 250 stories on FP had been aired or published ( Figure 2 ). Additional workshops increased the pool of journalists who are interested in FP-related issues.

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Number of FP advocacy stories aired or published by trained journalists.

3.1.3. Scale up to other countries

The media advocacy engagement strategy in Kenya proved to be scalable; as a result, AFP adopted this approach, scaling up implementation in Uganda, Nigeria, and Bangladesh.

4. Challenges

Although progress has been made since the start of the project in Kenya, FP is still not widely accepted, which remains a major challenge to increased media coverage. During performance review meetings, some trained journalists reported that they faced opposition from editors based on the editor's personal beliefs. This was especially noticeable among journalists who were from faith based media houses. Even though they had been identified to be trained, they did not receive adequate support needed to air their stories.

Another challenge was that some journalists did not consistently produce FP stories. FP stories are not commercial advertising, which generates income for the media house, which makes it difficult for journalists to have more engagement on FP since most of them are paid for the work that they deliver. Moreover, during the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, due to reduced revenues, media houses sacked six of the trained journalists, further reducing the pool of journalists airing FP-related stories.

5. Lessons learned

Following the five years of implementation of media advocacy, we concluded that the following lesson learned, and best practices are essential when conducting media advocacy.

  • • Do not expect journalists to report a story from your perspective. When we trained journalist, they had the freedom to write stories as they deemed fit. This at times did not go as per the project’s expectation. Although we invested in training and mentoring a journalist, we did not expect that they would report stories from the project’s angle. They exercise their own independence and thrive on pride that they are leading the story, not the project implementer. By adopting this approach, the journalists are able to own and drive the process and AFP was able to get a critical mass of FP stories.
  • • Do not expect journalists to profile your organization. An organization working in media advocacy must trade off its own visibility, public relations, for the public good. For greater impact, we decided to take a back-seat and allow the journalists to focus on issues and not profile Jhpiego as the implementing organization. Many organizations would like to be profiled to enhance their visibility, but this is often interpreted as public relations, which should be paid for, not as a public interest story. If a story is led by an implementing partner, decision-makers tend to look at issues such as who are the funders and what is their motivation; a credible story can be dismissed on the perceived ground of a vested interest. Moreover, paying for content for FP media advocacy may negate efforts since it might be misconstrued as pushing for a specific agenda. Thus, journalist-led stories, earned media, might provide gains that are sustainable beyond the life of an advocacy project.
  • • Involve editors right from the onset to rally support. Editors play a critical role in content production. Thus, it is important to engage the editors during development of training materials and give them an opportunity to co-facilitate sessions. Having a pool of trained journalists is not sufficient to guarantee expected outputs. A trained journalist can write a story, but the final decision to air or publish rests with the editors.
  • • Help journalists to see how FP links other issues so they can continuously feature stories. By linking FP stories with sustainable development goals and other aspects of development, journalists can sustain newsworthiness of FP and report stories from different angles. For instance, when there are restrictions of movement such as during emergencies, conflicts, or pandemics, trained journalists can capture human-interest stories that others are not focusing on, which can bring them to local and national attention. During the COVID-19 curfews and movement restrictions, journalists brought local and national attention to the need for continuity of essential health service at a time when FP programs and advocates were not able to raise the problem due to competition from other issues for the attention of decision-makers.
  • • Instill social media as a tool for airing stories and use of media platforms as an influence. With the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, some trained journalists lost their jobs. However, they continued their conversation through their social media presence due to their massive following.

6. Conclusion

The Advance Family Planning (AFP) worked to achieve the global goal of expanding access to quality contraceptive information, services, and supplies by providing decision makers with evidence that family planning is a sound investment for individuals, communities, and a nation’s future, and is a fundamental part of universal health coverage and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper offers AFP project's perspective on implementation of advocacy work in Kenya that incorporated media strategy as a core component of advocacy for engaging FP decision-makers. Our experience shows that media can play an important role in prompting decision-makers to act. It can also hold them accountable for their actions (or lack of action). For example, following the publication of a story titled ‘Policy stalemate: To offer contraceptives to adolescents or not?, in addition to other advocacy efforts, MoH resumed consultation convening on draft reproductive health strategy. Media advocacy efforts also contributed to the fast tracking of Kwale County’s multisectoral action plan on addressing teenage pregnancy. The multisectoral approach to addressing teenage pregnancy was later scaled up to 7 other counties and led to a national dialogue on the burden of teenage pregnancy. On advocacy efforts relating to expanding access to all contraception services, the example of Migori county redistributing FP commodities to facilities that lacked certain methods shows how the media helped in challenging the county governments to meet their commitments to the citizens and ensure delivery of services to the last mile.

WHO estimates that family planning increases economic growth per capita by 20-30% and avert 54% of preventable maternal deaths and 47% of preventable child deaths. With such great returns in investing in FP, advocacy is essential if countries are to meet their global commitments on FP of delivering contraceptives, information and services and upholding human rights. The media can spotlight and amplify community voices that are ignored during policy dialogues and ensure follow-up by policy and program leaders.

Acknowledgments

We appreciate the role played by the Advance Family Planning team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health, specifically Sarah Whitmarsh, Sabrina Karklins, Amanda Burgess, Vira David-Rivera for their technical support in the implementation and reviewing of this manuscript. We recognize Elizabeth Thompson, Ernest Waititu and Bernard Mwinzi for reviewing and editing the manuscript.

Funding Statement

This work was supported with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Data availability statement

Ethics statement.

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Maseno University Ethics and Review Committee. Written informed consent for participation was not required for this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements.

Author contributions

IC, RM, SM, SN, BK and SO implemented the project and led the conception, drafting, review, and finalization of this article. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Media Advocacy and Public Health

Media Advocacy and Public Health Power for Prevention

  • Lawrence Wallack - Portland State University, USA
  • Lori Dorfman - Berkeley Media Studies Group, California
  • David Jernigan - Marin Institute, California
  • Makani Themba-Nixon - Director, Grassroots Innovative Policy Program, Applied Research Center, Oakland, CA
  • Description

Using the media to promote public health is an innovative and valuable approach. Media Advocacy and Public Health develops the concept of media advocacy as a central strategy for the prevention of public health problems. How we think about health problems, and what we do about them, is largely determined by how they are reported on television, radio, and in the newspaper. Often, crucial issues of public health policy are discussed and decided only after they are made visible by the media. A traditional communication strategy like social marketing focuses on giving people a message. Media advocacy gives people a voice. The first book of its kind, Media Advocacy and Public Health lays out the theoretical framework and practical guidelines to successful media advocacy strategies. Eight case studies, ranging from alcohol to AIDS, vividly illustrate how media advocacy has been successfully applied.

"This book is a thought-provoking, practical guide of how to make a difference to public health using the powerful tool of media advocacy. . . . The book is eminently readable, with handy summaries at the end of each chapter. The penultimate chapter on case studies makes for stimulating, entertaining reading and gives good practical examples, sound advice, and valid reasons for the success or failure of various campaigns. . . . Being an advocate is not easy (indeed, media advocacy is about controversy), but using the strategies outlined in this book will fill those who yearn to make a difference with hope, and provide them with a tool to help make it happen." --Tobacco Control

"The authors of Media Advocacy and Public Health are successful in delineating [their] strategy, both philosophically and practically. . . . Extraordinary detail provided on how to implement media advocacy. . . . This text is the first of its kind and deserves attention both from the standpoint of potentially using the principles, as well as for what it says about the way people are affected by the media."

--NARPPS Journal

USE THIS QUOTE FIRST

"Do you want to convey your health and safety message through the mass media? If you answered yes, this is the book of concrete examples and advice for you. Media Advocacy and Public Health can catapult your media advocacy skills to unsurpassed levels of success."

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ALWAYS USE THIS QUOTE SECOND TO NADER'S

"This book is for those who want to move beyond caring to action. Media Advocacy and Public Health is a valuable resource for those seeking effective, informed, and principled action. For those who want to make a difference, this book can be the difference."

--Reed V. Tuckson, M.D., President, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

" Media Advocacy and Public Health is an invaluable tool for activists, health professionals, community groups--anyone who seeks to use the media for social change. Its lively and down-to-earth style makes it a joy to read. It is full of vivid case studies that provide dramatic illustrations of media advocacy's power to shape the debate on critical public health issues."

--Kathryn C. Montgomery, President, Center for Media Education

"Through its provocative and insightful analysis of the mass media's role in the framing of public health debates, Media Advocacy and Public Health offers a clearly articulated blueprint for potentially successful health interventions. This is a ''must read'' for professionals and academics in the fields of public health, planned social change, and health communication."

--Charles T. Salmon, Emory University School of Public Health

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Wonderful book! Very informative and easy to read. Students and faculty alike enjoyed it.

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Media Advocacy

In the era when “fake news” and self-appointed social influencers can move the masses through digital content, it can be tough to break through with stories that shape and change the way decision-makers think about advocating for conditions that support optimal body confidence for youth. That said, most local and state lawmakers are aware of those must-read, must-watch, must-follow news outlets.

As you have no doubt observed during your time as a policymaker, personal stories are often the one thing that can transform a good campaign into a great campaign. There are a lot of great storytelling tools out there and one of our favorites is Storytelling and the Power of Making Headlines , from M+R Strategic Services. It lays out the five must-have elements of a newsworthy story. Here is a worksheet to go along with this tool.

Your policymaker colleagues are influenced by all sorts of media, whether they admit it or not. Media advocacy is about using the media to get key decision-makers to think differently about your issue. Hard news and opinion pieces – including blogs and columns – can be effective ways to influence other decision-makers. Check out this column from the Boston Globe to see the power of a story well told. Sometimes good media advocacy does not even mention the proposed legislation but frames the problem in such a way that inspires a call to action. News coverage that highlights the prevalence of eating disorders among young people is going to have to cut through the clutter by offering a perspective that is timely and surprising. What media sources do your colleagues rely on?

Message matters

Click below for key messages that will cut through the clutter:.

Highlight how different it is to grow up these days with the internet. This is more than just a kid thing that we all went through growing up. The pressure to meet beauty and body standards today is greatly magnified by social media and influencers. The effect of the internet on young people’s self-image today cannot be overstated.

Present this legislation as the first step of a bigger policy package. Keeping in mind that people view this problem as intractable, we do not want to present one piece of legislation as the ultimate solution. Rather, we need to communicate that we do not expect to solve the entire problem with one or two standalone policies, but that the proposed legislation is the first step as part of a bigger policy package.

Point out that altered ads show up in a significant way on social media. Because people view social media as such a significant part of the problem today, it is important to note how advertising through social media is part of the problem – through “photoshopped” advertisements and the use of celebrity influencers to peddle weight loss products and muscle-building supplements.

Note that while girls are at particular risk of the health threats that come from unrealistic and biased body and beauty ideals, NO KID is immune. It is important to highlight that these are serious problems that goes well beyond the stereotype of young, straight white girls . Children of all genders, sexual minorities, and Black and Brown communities are impacted by eating disorders, sometimes at even higher rates – and highlighting these messengers in the media is important.

Focus on how weight loss products and supplements are unsafe for youth and a gateway to steroid use and eating disorders . Over the counter weight loss products and muscle-building supplements are not regulated by the FDA, not recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics for youth use, and can lead to increased risk of steroid use and eating disorders.

Click here for a media coverage example from Massachusetts 

Good media advocacy can be fun, provocative, and emotional. It can feature stories of young people who have struggled with eating disorders, student athletes made ill because of poorly regulated muscle-building supplements, and personal profiles that take a hard look at the ways media and digital distortion contribute to depression, anxiety and other mental health problems. Along with traditional news coverage, social media can generate interest with polls, quizzes, photos, infographics, and even paid advertising. Blogs and podcasts can be quick ways to get information in front of decision-makers. Letters to the editor can be another effective way to reach decision makers through the media with your message. Here is a great tool for developing a letter to the editor from M+R Strategic Services. Use STRIPED’s Fact Sheets and Talking Points to help craft your letter and stay on message.

Do not be afraid to get creative… Students and adult survivors of eating disorders can be powerful communicators and sometimes the way they describe their own truth is the best proof that something needs to be done. Young people can create vivid photo stories on Instagram detailing the ways that the diet industry works to manipulate children. They can use spoken word contests, poetry slams, essays and other artforms to make their point, the results of their creative truth-telling should be shared with the media that can get it in front of key decision-makers – and it never even has to mention the legislation. Just make sure you are inclusive in your search for messengers, as this issue impacts a diverse set of youth who should be represented in advocacy work. Find additional powerful tools for effective media advocacy here.

Putting the STRIPED Advocacy Playbook to work

media advocacy case study

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Media Advocacy: Lessons from Community Experiences

  • Published: 01 September 1996
  • Volume 17 , pages 306–330, ( 1996 )

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  • David H Jernigan &
  • Patricia A Wright  

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Media advocacy is the strategic use of mass media and community organizing as a resource for advancing a social or public policy initiative. Across the United States, communities are using media advocacy to promote healthier public policies and environments. The U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention commissioned numerous case studies of media advocacy on alcohol and tobacco issues in a diverse array of communities, including efforts in African-American and Latino communities or using computer-based electronic communication systems. The paper describes these efforts briefly, and summarizes lessons learned, including: media advocacy can lead to larger victories when used as a complement to community organizing in the context of a larger strategic vision for policy change; like policy advocacy, media advocacy is best done in the context of clear long-term goals; conscious framing, guiding the choice of spokespeople, visuals, and messages, can alter media coverage and public debate of health policies; advocates need to respect the media but also remember that they have power in relation to the media; and media advocacy is often controversial and not suited to every situation. The case studies show that media advocacy is a potent tool for public health workers, making an important contribution to campaigns to promote healthier public policies.

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Jernigan, D., Wright, P. Media Advocacy: Lessons from Community Experiences. J Public Health Pol 17 , 306–330 (1996). https://doi.org/10.2307/3343268

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Published : 01 September 1996

Issue Date : 01 September 1996

DOI : https://doi.org/10.2307/3343268

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media advocacy case study

Media advocacy is defined as...

Media advocacy is defined as the strategic use of mass media to advance public policy initiatives. Media advocacy is rooted in community advocacy and has as its goal the promotion of healthy public policies. It can be differentiated from traditional mass media strategies in a number of ways. Media advocacy shifts the focus from the personal to the social, from the individual to the political, from the behavior or practice to the policy or environment. While traditional media approaches try to fill the “knowledge gap,” media advocacy addresses the “power gap.”

media advocacy case study

John Wihbey

School of journalism representative, [email protected].

John Wihbey is an assistant professor of journalism and media innovation at Northeastern University, where he heads the graduate programs in the School of Journalism. He is a faculty affiliate with the Global Resilience Institute and the NULab for Texts, Maps, and Networks. His forthcoming book is The Social Fact: News and Knowledge in a Networked World (MIT Press, Spring 2019). He is faculty co-director of the Co-Laboratory for Data Impact, launched Fall 2019.

media advocacy case study

School of Law Representative

[email protected].

Dan Urman is the director of Northeastern School of Law’s Online & Hybrid Programs and holds a joint appointment with Northeastern University’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, where he runs the law and public policy minor. Dan has taught at Northeastern since 2009, teaching undergraduate and graduate classes and leading programs at the university. Dan teaches topics including the “American Legal System,” “Constitutional Law & the U.S. Supreme Court,” “Human Rights,” and “Criminal Justice.” Before coming to Northeastern, Dan practiced law at large law firms and served as a criminal prosecutor for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

media advocacy case study

Jeremy Paul

[email protected].

Jeremy Paul served as dean of Northeastern University School of Law from 2012 until June 2018. He teaches Constitutional Law, Property and Jurisprudence, and co-directs the University’s Media Advocacy program. A 1978 graduate of Princeton University, he received his law degree from Harvard in 1981. Before coming to Northeastern, Professor Paul served for 23 years on the faculty of the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he was dean and the Thomas F. Gallivan, Jr. Professor of Real Property Law from 2007 until 2012.

media advocacy case study

[email protected]

Myojung Chung is an assistant professor of journalism and media advocacy at Northeastern University. In her research and teaching, she focuses on how the emergence of new media has changed journalism and strategic communication. She is particularly interested in how online participatory behaviors such as commenting, liking, and sharing affect audiences’ processing of news or other mediated messages, and how to make messages more persuasive and effective in the digital era. Her research also explores how non-profit organizations, particularly advocacy groups, can strategically use media to amplify voice, mobilize support for social changes, and engage target audiences in a call-to-action.

media advocacy case study

Jody Santos

[email protected].

A human rights filmmaker, Jody Santos has traveled to some 30 countries across five continents, documenting everything from the trafficking of girls in Nepal to the widespread and often abusive practice of institutionalizing children with disabilities in the U.S. and abroad. Her book, Daring to Feel: Violence, the News Media, and Their Emotions, was published by Rowman & Littlefield’s Lexington Books division in 2009. Challenging the journalistic mandate of objectivity, the book explores what happens when journalists allow themselves to feel. No longer detached observers, they are free to see violence in all of its emotional complexity.

media advocacy case study

Rahul Bhargava

[email protected].

Rahul Bhargava is an educator, researcher, designer, and facilitator who works on data storytelling and technology design in support of social justice and community empowerment. He has created big data research tools to investigate media attention, built hands-on interactive museum exhibits that delight learners of all ages, and run over 100 workshops to build data culture in newsrooms, non-profits, and libraries. Rahul has collaborated with a wide range of groups, from the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil to the St. Paul library system and the World Food Program. His academic work on data literacy, technology, and civic media has been published in journals such as the International Journal of Communication, the Journal of Community Informatics, and Digital Humanities Quarterly. His museum installations have appeared at the Boston Museum of Science, Eyebeam in New York City, and the Tech Interactive in San Jose. Rahul has led workshops and made presentations at meetings such as Data for Black Lives, the FHNW Academy of Art and Design, IIIT New Delhi, the United Nations World Data Forum, TICTeC and the Designing Interactive Systems conference.

media advocacy case study

Dietmar Offenhuber

[email protected].

Dietmar Offenhuber is Associate Professor at Northeastern University in the departments of Art + Design and Public Policy. He holds a PhD in Urban Planning from MIT, a MS in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Lab, and a Dipl. Ing. in Architecture from the Technical University Vienna. Dietmar was Key Researcher at the Austrian Ludwig Boltzmann Institute and the Ars Electronica Futurelab and professor in the Interface Culture program of the Art University Linz, Austria.

Created through a collaboration between Northeastern University’s School of Journalism and School of Law, the degree uniquely combines foundations in governmental structures and the legal system with sophisticated training in the latest communication techniques. These include social media, web communications and videography, as well as data analytics and data-driven storytelling.

As today’s organizations – from government entities to nonprofits to large corporations – increasingly understand the ways in which they must effectively communicate in visual, textual and audio forms, they are seeing a substantial need for  employees and thought leaders  who possess these media skills.

In response, the MS in Media Advocacy equips students with the knowledge and skills necessary to apply research-driven strategic communication techniques and multimedia skills in diverse formats. With this inclusive curriculum, graduates will be prepared to directly and indirectly advocate for organizations, ideas and initiatives in a multitude of fields, while also becoming media-empowered citizens in a global, media-driven society.

The MS in Media Advocacy consists of 32 – 36 credit hours. Designed for four semesters of study, the program can be accelerated to be completed in three semesters.

Core Courses

• JRNL 5400 Media Advocacy in Theory and Practice : Examines time-tested and cutting-edge methods for shaping and presenting messages across multimedia platforms to effectively disseminate an organization’s message, change a public conversation, or shift public opinion. The course will examine case studies in mainstream media, public advocacy, and strategic communications to explore the motivations and methods of the organizations as well as the tools and techniques used. Students will also experiment in the practice of digital advocacy by exploring and applying pertinent findings from politics, advertising, and behavioral science that are increasingly employed by professionals looking to “micro-target” voters, “convert” customers, or “nudge” the public. One major component of the course will be hands-on workshops through which students will learn to leverage the latest digital tools for communicating across social media and online platforms.

• JRNL 6305 Research Methods for Media Advocacy:  A strong grasp of methodology is the cornerstone of all graduate research study. This course offers an overview of the concepts, methods, and tools for social science research. This course aims to help you become a knowledgeable producer of social science research as you develop skills in gathering, organizing, interpreting and presenting research information using competent and ethically defensible methods.

• LW 7667 Law and Ethics of Advocacy : What limits if any are there and should there be actions aimed at influencing public officials or public opinion?  Clearly, it is unlawful to offer a bribe to a public official to produce a desirable outcome.  Similarly, selling a consumer product with outright falsehoods likely crosses legal lines.  But where exactly should such lines be drawn.  Can a lobbyist send a wedding gift to a favorite legislator?  Can a skin cream seller say its product will make you feel younger?  This course will explore such lines teaching future advocates what sorts of conduct are clearly forbidden, such as campaign contributions from foreign governments, and what types of advocacy might run the risk of running afoul of legal prohibitions.

• LW 6400 Introduction to Law, Policy, and Legal Argument:  This course explores the legal levers that drive policy change.  Advocates often intend to alter public policy in ways supportive or favorable to an organization or a cause.  But influencing policy requires understanding of who sets the policy in the first instance.  Is the issue governed by federal, state or local law?  Are key decision makers elected or appointed?  Who is it most important to persuade and what sorts of arguments are likely to be convincing to the key audience?  This course will introduce students to the mechanisms of government that drive key policy debates across a wide range of issues such as health care; market regulation; environmental policy housing, education, and transportation; internet and privacy; and more.  Emphasis will be placed on tailoring arguments most effective with different constituencies.

Sample Journalism Electives

• PR Strategies for Politics, Scandal, and Corporations:  More than ever, individuals and organizations – politicians, executives, corporations, non-profits, and government agencies, among others – are facing serious issues and crises that threaten their reputations, driven by social and digital media and a 24/7 news cycle. PR Strategies for Politics, Scandal and Corporations examines the world of crisis management, focusing on the methods public relations professionals use for predicting, preparing for, and responding to situations that can inflict long-lasting reputational harm if not handled properly. The course is taught by Peter Mancusi, a veteran journalist and lawyer, who leads the issues and crisis management practice for the Boston office of Weber Shandwick, one of the world’s largest communications agencies. Peter focuses on how to provide sound counsel before, during and after a reputational crisis, using current news events and well-known case studies. The goal is to provide students with a broad understanding of how crisis management works in daily practice as well as the opportunity to develop skills for analyzing situations and developing communications to respond effectively to controversies.

• JRNL6305 Gender in the Newsroom:  For decades, female students have represented the vast majority of journalism majors, but men outnumber women in most professional newsrooms, especially in leadership positions. Gender disparities aren’t unique to journalism, but the paucity of women in newsrooms has negative consequences for society as a whole, making it harder for women to advance in politics, sports and other male-dominated fields. In this class, you’ll explore the many hurdles women journalists must overcome and learn practical strategies to navigate gender politics in modern newsrooms. We’ll also examine how nonbinary and transgender journalists are working to make the profession and society more inclusive, well as the role news organizations play in fueling the #metoo movement and drawing attention to workplace sexual misconduct. Prof. Meg Heckman is a journalist, author and educator focused on building a news ecosystem that is robust, diverse and equipped to serve all segments of society. Her academic work explores the past, present and future of women’s contributions to journalism and civic life. She also brings practical experience to the classroom, drawing on lessons from the more than a decade she spent working as a reporter and digital editor.

Sample Law Electives

• Lab Seminar in Applied Design and Legal Empowerment:  This on-the-ground course in the School of Law’s JD program is offered in an intensive format in the early Spring Semester.  This limited enrollment seminar explores the use of design principles in the development of new models for delivering legal information and services. Problem-solving methodologies derived from the fields of product and systems design are being successfully applied in many disciplines, including the law. These methods will be critically examined and applied by students within the context of NuLawLab community projects. Students will join multidisciplinary teams working with communities to collaboratively design responsive solutions to unmet legal needs, using the technological advances currently transforming the legal profession and our larger society. The seminar emphasizes hands-on student engagement with community clients, field observations, and teamwork in partnership with a diversity of other disciplines. Students will be assessed based on contributionsto project work, including class discussions. 

• Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Clinic:  This clinic, in conjunction with the law school’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, aims to deepen lawyering skills required for effective civil rights practice, including the identification and formulation of creative remedial approaches, teamwork and organizing ability.  Students learn the dynamics of “cause lawyering” and how to integrate legal doctrine, practice and ethics. With a national docket of cases, students travel to consult with client communities and investigate cases.

Get in touch

Cathy Bright Graduate Student Enrollment Manager

+1.617.373.2566

[email protected]

media advocacy case study

Alcohol advertising and violence against women: a media advocacy case study

Affiliation.

  • 1 Berkeley Media Studies Group, California 94704, USA. [email protected]
  • PMID: 8841818
  • DOI: 10.1177/109019819602300305

This article describes one effort to help prevent violence against women by addressing some of the larger societal factors involved. The Dangerous Promises campaign is based on the premise that sexist advertising images contribute to an environment conducive to violence against women. The goal of the campaign is to convince alcohol companies to eliminate sexist alcohol advertising and promotions. Using the tools of community organizing and media advocacy, the campaign pressures the alcohol industry to change the ways in which they portray women in much of their advertising. Media advocacy has been instrumental in the successes of the campaign. This article examines the strategies and outcomes of the Dangerous Promises efforts to date and makes a case for application of media advocacy as a tool for increasing community voice in policy-making processes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Advertising / legislation & jurisprudence*
  • Alcoholic Beverages* / adverse effects
  • Consumer Advocacy / legislation & jurisprudence*
  • Mass Media / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Public Policy
  • Spouse Abuse / legislation & jurisprudence*
  • Spouse Abuse / prevention & control
  • United States

media advocacy case study

Alcohol advertising and violence against women: A media advocacy case study

BMSG's issue series

  • Publications

media advocacy case study

Woodruff, K. Alcohol advertising and violence against women: A media advocacy case study. Health Education Quarterly, 23(3):330-345, August 1996.

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These movement-free exercises can lower blood pressure, study finds

The Mayo Clinic points out that certain types of static or isometric exercises using just body weight have significant benefits.

Woman exercising

Research in a large study recently showed that certain exercises using body weight, known as static and isometric exercises, can have big benefits on the body, including lowering blood pressure. 

The  study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine  found that exercises like planks and wall squats — which contract muscles and engage them without using weights — have been shown to be the best to add to your routine to lower blood pressure. 

The exercises are something just about anyone can add to their routine to perform in any location including at home, at the gym or even at hotels while traveling. 

You can soon buy an over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor

The FDA says millions of diabetics who don't use insulin may benefit from using continuous glucose monitors.

Strength training has already been shown to add marked benefits to one's health, and these types of static, low impact techniques don't move joints or involve much impact. But they still help to improve stability in the body, which can prevent injuries and falls. 

The  Mayo Clinic says  that isometric exercises won't improve speed because they are done in a still position, and they won't necessarily improve athletic performance. They can help people with injuries who need exercise, but for whom movement is painful. 

The new  study looked at randomized controlled trials that were published between 1990 and 2023. The data found that "all relevant work" reported reductions in systolic blood pressure and/or diastolic blood pressure after exercise over a two week or greater time period. A control group that did not perform the exercises was also analyzed in a similar way to compare. 

The study gathered data from 270 randomized control trials for its analysis.

Experts still say traditional aerobic exercise training should be the primary exercise approach to manage high blood pressure as a non-pharmacological method. 

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Yes, Donald Trump has been charged with obstruction in his classified documents case

Fox News host Jeanine Pirro declared, “News flash, Donald Trump is not charged with obstructing.” Trump has been charged with conspiracy to obstruct.

Written by Helena Hind

Published 03/13/24 10:20 AM EDT

On March 12, Fox News host Jeanine Pirro claimed that former President Donald Trump was not charged with obstruction in his classified documents case. Unfortunately for Pirro, special counsel Jack Smith’s sprawling indictment proves otherwise .

During a discussion on The Five about Tuesday’s congressional hearing  in which former special counsel Robert Hur defended his decision not to charge Joe Biden in his investigation into the president’s handling of classified documents, the Fox host complained that “the Democrats spent the whole day saying, ‘Donald Trump obstructed.’ Well, news flash, Donald Trump is not charged with obstructing.”

Citation From the March 12, 2024, edition of Fox News'  The Five

Pirro is incorrect; Trump, his aide Walt Nauta, and Mar-a-Lago worker Carlos De Oliveira have been charged with one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice in the former president’s classified documents case. 

From CNN’s report on the July 2023 superseding indictment:

The indictment accuses Trump of being part of the effort to delete security footage from Mar-a-Lago after it was subpoenaed, saying that Trump “requested” that a resort employee delete footage in order “to prevent the footage from being provided to a federal grand jury.” The newest defendant in the case places the former president in the middle of the attempts to delete the security footage. According to the indictment, De Oliveira told another Trump employee, who was director of IT at Mar-a-Lago, “that ‘the boss’ wanted the server deleted,” according to the indictment. … Trump and Nauta had already been charged with obstruction over the moving of boxes, but now the latest charges add a new dimension to the obstruction case that goes beyond hiding the documents themselves.

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COMMENTS

  1. Media Advocacy: A Strategy for Advancing Policy and Promoting Health

    It addresses the power gap rather than just the information gap. Media advocacy focuses on public policy rather than personal behavior. This article uses two case studies to illustrate key aspects of media advocacy. The first is a 5-year statewide violence prevention initiative for young people in California.

  2. Media advocacy in catalyzing actions by decision-makers: case study of

    This case study documents AFP experience in supporting media to engage leaders and decision-makers on the need to unlock bureaucratic bottlenecks that limit success of family planning services. AFP's media efforts added weight to the work of advocates who push for increased political commitments and investments in family planning.

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    Case studies. Issue 3: Oakland shows the way In the late 90s, the Oakland, Calif.-based Coalition on Alcohol Outlet Issues used media advocacy to impose a one-year moratorium on new alcohol outlets located in low-income areas. This case study offers examples of media advocacy strategies and shows how reducing Oakland's alcohol-related ...

  4. Public Health and Media Advocacy

    For these reasons, most evaluations of media advocacy are qualitative case studies that describe the process of conducting media advocacy. A few experiments have verified the theoretical foundations of media advocacy . Most evaluations of media advocacy have examined efforts to enact either tobacco or alcohol control policy, likely because ...

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    environment in which people act. It addresses the power gap rather than just the information gap. Media advocacy focuses on public policy rather than personal behavior. This article uses two case studies to illustrate key aspects of media advocacy. The first is a 5-year statewide violence prevention initiative for young people in California.

  6. Media Advocacy and Public Health

    The first book of its kind, Media Advocacy and Public Health lays out the theoretical framework and practical guidelines to successful media advocacy strategies. Eight case studies, ranging from alcohol to AIDS, vividly illustrate how media advocacy has been successfully applied. "This book is a thought-provoking, practical guide of how to make ...

  7. Media Advocacy: A Strategy for Empowering People and Communities

    Media advocacy can be a significant force for influencing public de-bate, speaking directly to those with influence, and putting pressure on decision makers. Media advocacy is a tactic for community groups to communicate their own story in their own words to promote social change. It is a hybrid tool combining advocacy approaches with the

  8. A Platform or Partner: Engaging the Media in Advocacy

    This paper presents a case study of the Ghanaian civil society advocacy campaign for a right to information (RTI) law, in order to explore the mechanisms of engaging the media and examine what factors shape the roles that media actors have in advocacy. The study is based on 32 interviews with civil society and media actors in Accra, conducted ...

  9. Media Advocacy: A Strategy for Advancing Policy and Promoting Health

    This article uses two case studies to illustrate key aspects of media advocacy, including a 5-year statewide violence prevention initiative for young people in California and the activities of a mothers' group working to improve public housing. The purpose of media advocacy is to promote public health goals by using the media to strategically apply pressure for policy change.

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  11. Alcohol Advertising and Violence Against Women: A Media Advocacy Case Study

    A Media Advocacy Case Study Katie Woodruff, MPH This article describes one effort to help prevent violence against women by addressing some of the larger societal factors involved. The Dangerous Promises campaign is based on the premise that sexist advertising images contribute to an environment conducive to violence against women.

  12. Media Advocacy

    Media advocacy is about using the media to get key decision-makers to think differently about your issue. Hard news and opinion pieces - including blogs and columns - can be effective ways to influence other decision-makers. Check out this column from the Boston Globe to see the power of a story well told. Sometimes good media advocacy does ...

  13. Alcohol Advertising and Violence Against Women: A Media Advocacy Case Study

    Media advocacy has been instrumental in the successes of the campaign. This article examines the strategies and outcomes of the Dangerous Promises efforts to date and makes a case for application of media advocacy as a tool for increasing community voice in policymaking processes.

  14. Media Advocacy and Strategic Networking in Transforming ...

    The chapter presents three case studies from Egypt, Kenya, and Nigeria to demonstrate how engaging with media professionals and political and cultural leaders is central to shifting norms and changing policies. Among the issues examined in the case studies, media advocacy and strategic networking were pivotal to the changes.

  15. Media Advocacy: A Case Study of Philip Sokolof's ...

    Request PDF | Media Advocacy: A Case Study of Philip Sokolof's Cholesterol Awareness Campaigns | Elevated blood cholesterol has been identified as a major causal factor underlying heart disease ...

  16. Media Advocacy: Lessons from Community Experiences

    Media advocacy is the strategic use of mass media and community organizing as a resource for advancing a social or public policy initiative. Across the United States, communities are using media advocacy to promote healthier public policies and environments. The U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention commissioned numerous case studies of media advocacy on alcohol and tobacco issues in a ...

  17. PDF Media Advocacy

    Media Advocacy Case study and lessons learned Sarah Whitmarsh. June 23, 2019. Advance Family Planning 2. Background. 2009-2015 Minimal focus on media advocacy. mid-2016 AFP incorporated media advocacy efforts in two focus countries—Kenya and Tanzania—as a pilot experiment. 2017-18 Modest media efforts expanded to Uganda and Nigeria.

  18. Alcohol Advertising and Violence Against Women: A Media Advocacy Case Study

    The strategies and outcomes of the Dangerous Promises efforts to date are examined and a case for application of media advocacy as a tool for increasing community voice in policymaking processes is made. This article describes one effort to help prevent violence against women by addressing some of the larger societal factors involved. The Dangerous Promises campaign is based on the premise ...

  19. Media Advocacy: Lessons from Community Experiences

    advocate averred that "media advocacy is more an art than a sci-ence-it is best learned by doing" (i). In this light, the case studies themselves may do the best job of defining media advocacy. COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE WITH MEDIA ADVOCACY: THE CASE STUDIES The media play an important role in policy debates. Thus it is not sur-

  20. About

    The course will examine case studies in mainstream media, public advocacy, and strategic communications to explore the motivations and methods of the organizations as well as the tools and techniques used.

  21. Alcohol advertising and violence against women: a media advocacy case study

    Media advocacy has been instrumental in the successes of the campaign. This article examines the strategies and outcomes of the Dangerous Promises efforts to date and makes a case for application of media advocacy as a tool for increasing community voice in policy-making processes.

  22. Alcohol advertising and violence against women: A media advocacy case study

    Citation Woodruff, K. Alcohol advertising and violence against women: A media advocacy case study. Health Education Quarterly, 23(3):330-345, August 1996. Contact us for a copy

  23. Patients' experiences of dental diagnostic failures: a ...

    Patient safety issues in dentistry are receiving increasing attention. Based on 67 individual patient interviews, researchers in this study explored patient perspectives about the impact of dental diagnostic errors. Participants identified several categories of contributing factors, including clinician issues (e.g., poor communication), patient issues (e.g., lack of self-advocacy), and system ...

  24. These movement-free exercises can lower blood pressure, study finds

    The study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that exercises like planks and wall squats — which contract muscles and engage them without using weights — have been shown to be the best to add to your routine to lower blood pressure. The exercises are something just about anyone can add to their routine to perform in ...

  25. A Media Advocacy Case Study

    A Media Advocacy Case Study William DeJong, PhD In 1 99 1 , the Massachusetts legislature considered a bill that would have allowed a drunk driving defendant's ... media advocacy strategies described here, working in collaboration with the state orga-nization's top leadership and other volunteers. In preparing this case study, I confirmed

  26. Yes, Donald Trump has been charged with obstruction in his classified

    Pirro is incorrect; Trump, his aide Walt Nauta, and Mar-a-Lago worker Carlos De Oliveira have been charged with one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice in the former president's classified ...

  27. Cris Quinn Memorial Soccer Complex Detention Basin: Texas Green

    This case study discusses the Cris Quinn Memorial Soccer Complex in Beaumont, Texas, where a detention basin functions as dry-day soccer fields for community use. View on Agrilife Learn Green infrastructure practices are designed and engineered to work with nature to capture, store, and treat stormwater runoff in ways that provide both water ...

  28. Study Says US Maternal Death Crisis Was a Case of Bad Data

    The American Medical Association called the rise "alarming."But a new study says the rise in maternal mortality was actually a case of bad data. Using another way to measure the researchers found maternal mortality has basically been flat in the US for the past two decades.. Data classification errors have inflated U.S. maternal death rates for two decades, according to the study, published ...