Why use the media?

72 Training Manual on Advocacy, Lobbying and Negotiation Skills for Indigenous Peoples in Climate Change and REDD+ Other important reasons to engage media are the following: 1. Rapid and wide distribution of information on our advocacy issue and solution, as well as calls to action, often at low or no cost to advocates. 2. Facilitate or help build public attention and support. Getting the MESSAGE out to the public through the media can result in moral ƒ†‘–Š‡”ˆ‘”•‘ˆ•—’’‘”–‹…Ž—†‹‰Ƥƒ…‹ƒŽ•—’’‘”–™Š‡‹– gets the attention and concerns of certain individuals and groups. 3. Attract and hold the attention of key decision makers. Ȉ Once public attention is raised on the issue, policy makers, are more likely to also give attention or focus on the issue; Ȉ The media can steer the attention of decision makers to the ‹••—‡‘ˆ–Š‡†ƒ›ƒ†…ƒŠ‹‰ŠŽ‹‰Š––Š‡‹’‘”–ƒ…‡‘ˆƒ•’‡…‹Ƥ… constituency, such as indigenous communities, threatened by Ž‘‰‰‹‰ǡ†ƒ•ǡƪ‘‘†‹‰ǡ‡–…ǤǢƒ† Ȉ Another way to lobby politicians and other decision makers. 4. Can provide protection to advocate by keeping the advocate before the public - harm is less likely - though in some countries, it can also open the risk. Publicity can heighten public awareness domestically and internationally. This in turn can discourage opponents to do harm to the advocate. If there is public attention to the advocate, and harm is done, suspicions on who did the harm often go to the opponent, thus discouraging them to do harm.

3.2.2. General Approaches to working with the media

1. Have a clear and concise story:

The story should state the Who-What-When-Where-How. The ‹••—‡•Š‘—Ž†„‡•’‡…‹Ƥ…ǡƒ†’”‡•‡–‡†ƒ•—”‰‡––‘…ƒ’–—”‡–Š‡ attention of the media and the public: REMEMBER that advocate need to convince the media that their story is compelling enough to report, even in the midst of other stories, political intrigues. etc.

2. Present solutions

Advocate should not only present a problem or issue, but also solutions or recommendations for actions. This can also help build the credibility of the advocate.

3. Use the “Rule of Three”

Present information in sets of three - three issues, three problems, 73 0286WUDWHJLHV6NLOOVDQG0HWKRGVLQGYRFDF\DPSDLJQV –Š”‡‡•‘Ž—–‹‘•–Šƒ–ƒ”‡‹–‡””‡Žƒ–‡†Ǥơ‡”‹‰͕͔‘”͖͔•‘Ž—–‹‘• will only muddle the issue and confuse the public. This “rule of three” is just a common sense rule and can be disregarded if inappropriate, depending on the issue and other considerations.

4. Link the cause with other major development and events

To make an issue more appealing to media, advocate can shape their issuemessage to a major development or a “hot” issue of the day or an event that is appealing to the media and or already guaranteed with media coverage.

5. Seek support of personalities

‹†‹‰ƒ’‡”•‘ƒŽ‹–›–Šƒ–‹•…”‡†‹„Ž‡ƒ†‹ƪ—‡–‹ƒŽ…ƒŠ‡Ž’ project our campaign and generate attention of our targets and the general public. They may be credible politicians, religious leaders, academics, lawyers, doctors, or even well-known indigenous leaders form other communities or in the country-level.

6. Cultivate good media relations

Having good relations with the media is important. Having credibility and open line of communication with the media can assist in accomplishing the goals of media advocacy. Good working relations with the media can draw attention and sympathy to your causeissue Strong ties with the media help guarantee media coverage of your issue

7. Use international media, when possible

As much as possible, try to link your issue with international media. This will take some investigation and good connections since sometimes, international media are often based in capital cities. This is where our allied journalists can help as they can also refer us to some international media contacts. Also, advocate NGOs can help link us with them.

3.2.3. Media tools for getting your message out

Some media tools that your indigenous community can use are the following: Ȉ News release - Good for releasing news. For example, news on Žƒ†‰”ƒ„•‘–Š‡…‘—‹–›ƒơ‡…–‡†„›‘‹Ž’ƒŽ’Žƒ–ƒ–‹‘ Ȉ Feature storySite Visit - Discusses in more in-depth, the issue you are advocating. For example, you can invite journalists to your community to have a deeper understanding of the problem on