Working with the Media

One of the challenges of public engagement activities to date has been publicising the events to a wider audience – to increase participation and to disseminate the findings further. Anecdotal evidence suggests that it is difficult to engage the mass media – even when a dialogue was likely to generate controversy.

This research asked whether this view was right and whether we can be more effective in working with journalists, through a review of media coverage of public dialogue and interviews with journalists and science communicators.

A number of learning points have been identified to help policy makers and dialogue practitioners engage more effectively with the media. These include:

• Expectations should be realistic from the outset as to how newsworthy the dialogue is, and whether it is worth spending time pursuing media involvement
• Where possible, expert public relations (PR) professionals should be involved who can identify opportunities and draw up a coherent publicity and communications strategy
• Alternative media should be explored, including digital and online, to engage with citizens
• Interest and coverage should be monitored and followed up to make sure that further publicity opportunities are not lost