Too many political activists underestimate the importance of PR campaigns to their causes, or imagine the media doesn't provide favorable coverage because they are biased against them. Yes, there is some bias, but the main bias is against anyone who does not provide them a steady stream of press releases that can be published as articles with little change. Media journalists are lazy and if something comes in they can put out without a lot of work they will tend to favor that.
Journalists, like most people, generally don't adopt new things the first time they encounter them. If you hit them with something unfamiliar it will probably be ignored unless it comes from some familiar source. Building familiarity with the points you want to get across takes time and a lot of repeated presentations, using many different ways of saying the same thing. Even PR professionals know they are doing well if one out of a thousand of their press releases get printed, and a publication rate of more than one out of a hundred is only for celebrities or the government. On the other hand, almost everything that gets published is someone's press release. Most of what passes for "news" is really a kind of advertising. It is not perhaps of a product or service, but it is of a way of thinking that is favorable to those doing the marketing of that way of thinking. Whenever you receive a "news" report ask yourself what the writer of it is trying to sell. When you can answer that question for everything that comes to you, then you will have a better insight into the way marketing shapes public discourse, and why it is so expensive in time and money. Press releases can also counter opposing press releases. If the media only get press releases from one side, they are liable to report that side as though it is the only side, because from their perception it is. Counter that stream from the other side with press releases that call the opposition points into question and the media may hold off on publishing either until they can look into it further, which they may never get around to doing, Or they may weave your points into the oppositions points within the same articles, which can largely defuse what the opposition is trying to sell. Almost all large organizations, especially the government, have large PR operations, which are often broken out into departments, some of the smaller of which may have only one designated PR person, whose job is to feed the media. When I was in the Air Force one of my "additional duties" was Public Information Officer of my 60-man detachment. I had the use of one NCO to do much of the staffwork. We put out at least two press releases a week, mostly news of what our men were doing, mostly to their home town newsmedia. If they contained photographs, those photographs were reviewed by an office that would "scrub" them of anything that might make us look bad, such as beer cans in the frame, usually with a delay of only a day. (Never believe a photo, audio, or video recording -- they can all be fabricated.) Whatever your cause, if you aren't putting out at least one well-written press release a week, you will never make any headway. Having convincing facts and arguments is useless if you don't propagate them, not just to people who already agree with you, but to the world at large. It also helps to schmooze with journalists. Phone them. Visit them. Take them out to lunch. Invite them to things. Take them on tours. Find out what they need and give it to them, with your spin, of course. There is no substitute for for personal contact, which can provide you with valuable insight on how to frame your message. Finally, if you are justifiably concerned about persecution, realize that you may be a much less attractive target if you have a professional-quality PR operation. Our opposition tends to like to pick on weak, unattractive people who don't know how to put out their message. Few things cause them more pause than the prospect of unfavorable publicity. Keep that uppermost in your mind. -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Constitution Society http://constitution.org 2900 W Anderson Ln C-200-322 Austin, TX 78757 512/299-5001 jon.rol...@constitution.org ---------------------------------------------------------- [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
