Violence is preventable: Tools for changing the public discourse
Like other public health issues, violence is preventable, but, in numerous cities, policies that emphasize prevention are in short supply. That’s because many citizens and leaders don’t believe preventing violence is possible, and even if they want to try, they don’t know how.
This is partly because the public’s understanding of violence, beyond personal experience, comes through the filter of what gets reported in news coverage. Typically, reporting on violence is focused on law enforcement and criminal justice perspectives that often instill fear, discourage positive action and reinforce cultural assumptions that the problem is inevitable.
BMSG worked in collaboration with the Oakland-based Prevention Institute, with support from Northern California Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit Department, to change this discourse to emphasize that violence is preventable. We analyzed how violence is framed in local news, including how news covering the education, business and health care sectors can better include portrayals of violence as a preventable public health issue. With Prevention Institute, we developed key messages and tools to help advocates learn to effectively articulate to decision-makers the need for systems change, highlighting the roles of the business, education and health care sectors.
The tools have helped advocates, Kaiser Permanente practitioners and local leaders increase the visibility of violence as a preventable public health issue (and the role for business, education and health care advocates) in key local news outlets.
Related resources
Changing the discourse about violence: A strategic communication toolkit
Changing the discourse about community violence: To prevent it, we have to talk about it
Preventable or inevitable: How do community violence and community safety appear in California news?