Using media advocacy in public health policy campaigns
by: Pamela Mejia
posted on Wednesday, October 23, 2013
How can we use the news to move public health policy forward? Media advocacy, the strategic use of mass media to advance public health policy, is one important tool for advocates. Media advocacy helps practitioners use the power of the media to urge decision makers to support policies that make our communities, schools, workplaces, stores, playgrounds, and our lives safer and healthier.
This year at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting, BMSG will offer advocates an overview of what media advocacy is and how public health leaders can use it to shift the public conversation around health and safety issues to support meaningful policy change.
To help attendees contextualize and understand key media advocacy principles, we will explore two high-profile policy fights from 2012 around sugar-sweetened beverage taxes in the California cities of Richmond and El Monte. Though both taxes were ultimately defeated by voters, they offer important lessons for media advocates about the importance of building a cohesive strategy from the ground up; how community leaders can emerge as powerful authentic voices; and the value of visuals, sound bites, and other elements that can help advocates develop a compelling and effective story.
Our discussion of media advocacy efforts in Richmond and El Monte will help practitioners from a variety of public health disciplines apply key principles to their work and more effectively advance policies that shape healthy, safe, and just environments. We hope you’ll attend session 3327.0 (Mobilizing a Public Health Campaign) on Monday, Nov. 4 at 2:30 p.m. to join the conversation!