Letters to the editor can signal community interest about a particular public health issue and send a message to policymakers. But what makes for a compelling letter, and how can advocates increase their chances of getting published? To support public health advocates in writing effective letters on the importance of how taxes can advance health and equity, BMSG and Public Health Awakened created this resource.
The way we communicate about sexual violence can make a big difference in how our intended audience understands the problem and what to do about it. In this framing brief, we explore the nuances of framing sexual violence and provide building blocks for constructing messages about prevention.
Media advocacy is one of the few public health education tools we have that allows us to work “upstream” to address the conditions and inequities that harm the public’s health. Media advocacy, used as a tool to accelerate and amplify community organizing and policy advocacy, can direct the public and policymaker attention to the policies that can reshape our social and physical environments so public health concerns can be effectively addressed. This chapter, from “Community and Public Health Education Methods: A Practical Guide,” teaches students to think strategically about working with the news media to advance public health policy.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a critical public health issue with implications for every sector of society, but communicating about them can be challenging. In this news analysis, we explore whether advocates have been able to successfully explain the implications of childhood trauma, including how solutions appear in news coverage and whether the link between children’s environments and the trauma they experience is visible.
When advocates communicate about junk food marketing, do they talk about health equity? In this framing brief, we describe findings from a content analysis of materials on food marketing, show why children of color should be at the forefront of our conversations about and actions to reduce target marketing, and suggest how we all can get better at discussing this critical public health and social justice issue.
Amid ongoing global concern about obesity, public health scholars need to be informed of the nature and extent of Big Data’s impact on food marketing. In this article for Critical Public Health, BMSG’s Laura Nixon and Lori Dorfman, along with our partners Kathryn Montgomery and Jeff Chester from the Center for Digital Democracy, explore how Big Data has transformed the food marketing system and offer suggestions for research strategies and public health interventions. Without interventions, the authors argue, the current system will increase health inequities.
This module, created as part of the Health ExChange Academy’s Communicating for Change training series, allows advocates to practice being spokespeople for their issue. The module helps advocates learn to anticipate and practice answering the tough questions reporters ask. Other trainings in the series are available here.
This module, created as part of the Health ExChange Academy’s Communicating for Change training series, explores different news story elements so advocates can gain access to journalists by emphasizing what is newsworthy about their issue. Advocates will explore how to create news, piggyback on breaking news, meet with editorial boards, submit op-eds and letters to the editor, and develop advocacy ads. Other trainings in the series are available here.
This module, created as part of the Health ExChange Academy’s Communicating for Change training series, introduces advocates to tactics for engaging the media strategically to advance policy goals. The module discusses the news media’s role in shaping debates on community health, helps advocates clarify their overall strategy and describes how that relates to a media strategy, message strategy and media access strategy. Other trainings in the series are available here.
This module, created as part of the Health ExChange Academy’s Communicating for Change training series, takes advocates through each step of developing a media advocacy plan: setting goals and objectives, identifying strategies and tactics, assessing resources, determining time-lines, and specifying who will do what. The module also shows advocates how to integrate communications planning organizationally and develop timely, proactive news coverage. Other trainings in the series are available here.
