264076 Rapid Response Media Networks: Building Capacity for Media Advocacy

Monday, October 29, 2012 : 3:30 PM - 3:50 PM

Sana Chehimi, MPH , Prevention Institute, Oakland, CA
Ann Whidden, MPH , Prevention Institute, Oakland, CA
Tony Dang, BA , Prevention Institute, Oakland, CA
     
Actively engaging with media enables public health advocates to effectively relay information to diverse audiences, including policymakers, business leaders, and the general public. By proactively shaping and influencing media coverage, advocates in turn shape and influence key stakeholders' and the general public's opinions and perceptions.

This session will explore Prevention Institute's online “Rapid Response Media Networks,” designed to equip public health professionals with a range of techniques and skills needed to strategically shape the media conversation on public health. The Rapid Response Networks monitor the daily news cycle and provide in-depth analysis on how public health issues are framed by the media. Network participants receive talking points and guidance on how best to respond or shift the conversation through letters to the editor or online comments; how to cultivate relationships with reporters; and how to place op-eds and pitch stories.

Presenters will share several applications of the Rapid Response Networks focused on key public health issues, including national health reform implementation and food and beverage marketing to children.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Communication and informatics

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe how Rapid Response Media Networks mobilize advocates and advance the role media advocacy plays in community health; 2. Identify key strategies for responding to and/or shifting media coverage of an issue; 3. Identify successful and unsuccessful media advocacy efforts; and 4. Apply lessons learned from past media advocacy campaigns to their own public health initiatives.

Keywords: Primary Prevention, Public Health Advocacy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I direct Prevention Institute’s communications efforts and train advocates nationally on how to best use media advocacy to achieve policy, systems and environmental change. Additionally, I provide training and technical assistance to government agencies, coalitions, foundations, and community-based organizations across the country on cutting-edge prevention practice and strategy development to address the underlying determinants of health, strengthen collaborations and improve community health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3338.0: Effectively Using Media and Social Networking in Public Health Settings