Using media advocacy to reframe news coverage of youth and violence
Berkeley Media Studies Group provided media advocacy support between December 2015 and January 2016 for the Urban Peace Movement (UPM), an organization dedicated to a model of youth development known as “Healing Centered Youth Organizing,” through which young people have the opportunity to heal from the negative effects of social trauma and community disinvestment by becoming engaged as agents of social change.
The aims of our support were two-fold: to empower young people to become equipped as effective spokespeople and to help UPM staff think strategically about how to achieve maximum impact with limited time and resources.
First, during a media advocacy training, BMSG facilitated a dialogue with UPM’s staff and young adult participants about the difference between individual responsibility and institutional accountability frames, and how the former often distort news coverage of youth and violence. Participants then practiced delivering messages that cued an institutional accountability perspective.
Then, during a follow-up consultation, we introduced UPM to a strategic planning process that helped them prioritize limited resources, zero in on their central areas of expertise, and outline steps for reframing youth and violence in the news. UPM left the session with a goal of implementing several concrete strategies including developing an editorial calendar; having “screening criteria” to determine which issues warrant letters to the editor; identifying and building relationships with key reporters; and doing ongoing youth spokesperson training.