What is the goal of my campaign and who can give me that goal? (ex. End the occupation of Iraq, pass a local ordinance against the Patriot Act, pass statewide legislation funding affordable housing, etc.)
CODEPINK tends to focus on policy and social change goals
The message to the media must be directly related to the goal
We are not just doing media work to get our name out, we’re doing it to meet our campaign goal
Local campaign goal example: organizing a V-Day event and wanting to fill every seat in the theater to raise much-needed funds
National campaign goal example: Women Say No to War national/international campaign specific goal to get 100,000 people to support campaign, general goal to bring women together across boundaries to end the war
Identify who can fulfill your campaign goals, for example:
If your goal is to end the occupation of Iraq:
Congress, national policy members
President
If your goal is to pass a local ordinance:
Local supervisors
If your goal is to get a big turn out at a local event:
People in the area
Target your actions at the people who you want to reach. With media work, we have to figure out who our audience is. Sometimes people think they have to be covered by the biggest media outlets, which are the hardest to get coverage on.
- If we want to influence Congress, for example, then we look at the “opinion leading” media, such as the NY Times and the Washington Post.
- If we want to influence local supervisors, then it’s best to go for local media outlets.
- If we want to influence the parents who need opt-out info to prevent their kids from getting targeted by the military, we may look for a local newspaper, a school newsletter, or might want to create our own media (handing out flyers, etc.).
What is the point of doing media work?
To support your campaign.
To get media attention, you have to give the media a reason to cover you by either:
1. Creating news
2. Piggybacking on another issue/news item
What is news? Not every issue is news. News is something new! Examples of news: new legislation, a new product, something that hasn’t happened before, controversy and conflict, anything where government officials are involved, celebrities, holidays and milestones (Valentine’s Day, Veteran’s Day, 3 year anniversary of the war, # of US troops killed, etc.)
Other examples:
In a small community, what’s news is something happening locally
In big cities, there’s a lot of competition for news, so it works well to piggyback on other events, such as Bush coming to town, or an already planned counter-recruitment event at a high school
A protest creates news in certain places, but in places like San Francisco, where there are protests all the time, protests are not inherently newsworthy.
CODEPINK is well known for upping the ante on protests, making things fun and exciting, and adding a creative spark. Press conferences are usually really boring. News people want something with flare and visual appeal, something that’s happening.
Visual examples: giant pink slips, pink statue of liberty outfits, Karl Rove condom
Great examples:
People’s State of the Union event at a local bookstore in Maui got equal coverage to Bush’s State of the Union speech on the front page of the local paper—great example of piggybacking on a news story
Creating a hook—connecting to something that has meaning for the news outlets
Save Hockey, stop Global Warming international event hooks into Olympics, winter sports, and one year anniversary of Kyoto protocol
Bird-dog Hillary actions
What works best is to really monitor the media in your community and tag onto what they’re interested in.
CODEPINK has succeeded in doing lightning quick actions to respond to what’s hot in the media. Find the hot issue, take on a different angle or up the ante and get creative!
How do you work the press angle when you’re working in coalition with other groups?
Get the attention at the event: Be very visual, be pink, have signs at the event
Before the event: Send out joint press releases, choose the best spokespeople to promote to the media, regardless of which group they belong to, and highlight the group that had taken a lead role in the organizing.
What do you do to get the media to talk to the right people at your event?
Bring press releases with you, ask the press to sign-in so you’ll have their contact info for the future, and introduce the press to the people you want them to talk with. It’s really important that you pick someone in your group to be a media liaison and to approach the media to introduce herself, offer to introduce key spokespeople to the media as people to interview. Often, the media will take the offer to speak with the people you point out.
Since reporters will ask you, you should ask yourself “What is CODEPINK?”
- Women for peace, women initiated grassroots organization working for peace and justice
- Mission statement
- CODEPINK is a women-led peace movement working to end the war in Iraq with creative protest. We have over 200 local groups around the country.
- Working to end the occupation of Iraq
- Write down a one sentence version so that you’re prepared when you’re asked
- Speak from the heart so your word will be moving to the audience listening
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