Working with the Media
Lead: Melanie Smallman
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
Working with media full report
Melanie speaking at Communicate 2010
Communicate brings together professional environmental and conservation communicators through an on-line community and annual conference. The conference provides a place to gather feedback, volunteer ideas, and continue discussions in and around the field of communication.
Read the latest news updates and blog articles relating to this report and other Sciencewise-ERC projects.
