Transcript Matters of Substance - Harm Reduction Coalition

MATTERS OF SUBSTANCE
Media strategy and media access
for harm reduction organizations
Carson Benowitz-Fredericks
MSPH Student, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Purpose
• To assess the influence of local-level Baltimore, MD, harm
reduction actors in local and national press.
• To propose feasible, effective media outreach strategies
for harm reduction organizations.
Why engage the media?
• Media has influence in popular perception in four ways:
1. The issues it covers are accepted as the public interest.
2. It selects the details that are emphasized.
3. Shapes individual and community attitudes towards risk.
4. Informs political debate and decision-making.
Lancaster, Hughes, Spicer, Matthew-Simmons & Dillon 2011
• “[M]ost Americans rely on the mass media for information about
the scope of the drug abuse problem … .”
• The imprimatur of a recognized authority increases public acceptance of
interventions, including needle exchange.
Blendon & Young 1998
• Levels of community support for HR organizations is not always
recognized by policy-makers and authorities…
Treloar & Fraser 2007
• …but quotes from policy-makers and law enforcement are “privileged”
• They are more frequently quoted, and their perspectives are often “internalized” in
article narrative.
Korner & Treloar 2003
Find another “other”
• Drug users are represented as an “other” and imbued with
inherent threat.
Taylor 2008
• This means that their health is less important that the perceived
threat they carry.
• Note that news inherently implies novelty.
• The immediacy of threat can create a more attractive story than the
ongoing challenges faced by individuals.
Practical goals
• Raise profile of organization or philosophy.
• Improved access to funding and other resources.
• Opportunities for collaboration.
• Direct vulnerable populations to needed services.
• Through direct education or through normalization.
• Diffuse opposition to organizations operating extra-legally.
• Increase pressure for policy change.
The perks of being a wallflower
• Media exposure may not be in the best interests of
organizations operating extra-legally.
• Raise “target” of organization if climate turns increasingly hostile to
vulnerable populations.
• Acceptance of drug users/harm reduction may trivialize
challenges and poor health outcomes.
• This may involve time and resources organization doesn’t
have.
“Driving the news cycle”
Setting the ground rules for how an issue is
presented.
The Democratic party is a party that believes in
democracy.*
The Democrat party is a gathering of democrats.
* Your mileage may vary.
“Driving the news cycle”
Defining the questions through which debate is
conducted.
Pre-OWS: “taxing the rich is un-American and bad for
the economy” vs. “no it’s not”.
Post-OWS: “the wealthy should be called upon to
contribute their fare share” vs. “no they shouldn’t”.
“Driving the news cycle”
Establishing the narrative.
Melky Cabrera’s season ended with a suspension,
making him useless to the Giants.
Before Melky Cabrera’s suspension, he had been one
of the most valuable player on the Giants.
The BSHRC dream
To promote harm reduction as a foundational philosophy for
the treatment.
Media access can be valuable in this effort.
Methods – Local search
• Analysis of media coverage
LexisNexis searches performed from collection of All News (English).
6 month time frame.*
Search for Baltimore-specific IDU coverage;
Search for Baltimore-specific coverage including HR orgs,
“harm reduction” as a keyword;
Baltimore Sun searched for general addiction coverage.
* LexisNexis only returned results for the previous 6 months of the Sun
Coverage of Harm Reduction - Local
• Identify harm reduction organizations operating in
Baltimore (n=4)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Power Inside
Staying Safe
Baltimore City Needle Exchange
Baltimore Student Harm Reduction Coalition
How often do harm reduction organizations receive
coverage in the local press? In what depth?
Baltimore coverage in 6 mos.
Total mentions of HR topics in 6-mo. period
25
HR efforts explicitly mentioned
3*
HR efforts explicitly mentioned in the context of stilt
walking
1**
Direct quotes from HR actors on addiction topics
0
Mentions of heroin or other substances within HR
stories
1
Mentions of heroin or other substances AND specific
HR organizations
1
Frequency of stories involving addiction (per week)
1
* 2 for the needle exchange, 1 for the power inside.
** Of those 3, the Power Inside was described mostly in the context of its directors attempts to, again, walk on stilts. This was not a
metaphor.
Observations
• Addiction remains trenchant in Baltimore press.
• Local harm reduction organizations are not well
represented in the ongoing media narrative surrounding
addiction
• Local actors within harm reduction organizations not
regarded as go-to sources for addiction topics.
• Needle exchange relatively higher profile than other
efforts.
• Follow-up: comprehensive content analysis
Are addiction stories + or - ? Is addiction portrayed as intractable or
solvable?
How often are expert sources cited? From where are sources recruited?
Baltimore Sun, last 6 mos.
Sun coverage of
addiction, by section.
1
1
2
Local
9
2
Editorial
Sports
Entertainment
Health
3
Business
Other
7
Baltimore Sun, last 6 mos.
Sun coverage of
addiction, by topics.
3
1 1
3
Book review
Social trend
Event
Person
8
5 stories were
followups/responses to
previous stories.
Policy
Services
9
Results – National – since 01/01/10
References to HR in terms of substance use
25
References to DPA*
13
References to HRC
2
References to HRI
0
Mentions per week
0.71
Mentions per week per paper
0.08
Top 10 papers by circulation per 9/12 ABC FAS-FAX, minus Chicago Sun-Tribune.
* Excluding mentions of DPA’s advocacy for marijuana legalization; this qualifies as harm reduction, but whether it reflects HR in
addiction is arguable. Without mentions of marijuana excluded, n=94.
Limitations
• Baltimore has an unusually high level of IDU and IDU-borne morbidity;
official sanctioning of HR strategies. May not be projectable to all
communities.
• Small sample sizes. Double-coding was not performed; no reliability
measures.
• Local findings do not properly represent the regional print ecology;
weeklies and local news magazines underrepresented.
• Comprehensive search not performed for individual contacts; actors
involved with HR orgs may be interviewed under different institutional
accreditation.
• Newswire articles included in cross-pub local analysis—these are not
automatically picked up by subscribing publications.
• Web-only publications excluded.
Such things as zines are made on
• Weeklies and other alternative publications have
historically been more friendly to progressive issues.
• Including HR.
• Their audience may not be the one HR promotion needs
to reach.
• Likewise with internet. Alternet, Wired, The Fix, etc. may
preach to the choir.
• Demarginalization requires mainstream news access.
How to speak journalist
• The journalist is the audience proxy.
• Not necessarily sophisticated or nuanced.
• Not necessarily well versed in the topic.
• Thus, do not assume familiarity with a topic.
• Reach out with leads.
• Do not overcontextualize—establish HR as the best practice.
• Remember a journalist has 4 hours to know “everything”
about the topic.
• Provide well referenced, clearly explained background.
• Be up front with ground rules if anonymity is desired.
Journalists are people, too.
• The page each morning is a white hole that must be filled.
• By providing a compelling HR story, you are helping them do their job.
• Extinguish the fire—”this fills your page.” Don’t start the fire—”you are f***ing
up by not covering this.”
• Be proactive—sell the story.
• Be accessible; journalists are on deadline and cannot wait for a
response.
• Likewise, they are drawn to sources with a reputation for accessibility.
• REACH OUT.
• Direct e-mail to specific writers, as well as press releases for editorial desks.
• Even if no pick-up, you are ID’d as source.
“Be the press.”
• Have a record of opinion and information on the topic.
• Blogs, social media as well as conventional collateral.
• Know the current story landscape for the paper.
• Piggyback on national efforts
• Contextualize national news with local illustration.
• Persistent and accessible. Persistent and accessible.
• Persistent and accessible.
• My number is 805-455-9962. Call me if you want to hear me say,
“Persistent and accessible.”
In conclusion
Visibility has benefits for harm reduction both in terms of
organizational prestige and furthering reform of treatment.
HR currently underrepresented in local trends in Baltimore.
Responsiveness to media landscape.
Know your journalist and treat them well.
Acknowledgments
Judith Prochaska, PhD, MPH
Stanford Prevention Research Center
Ashley Sanders-Jackson, PhD
UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education
Jennifer Kirschner, MSPH
Baltimore Student Harm Reduction Coalition
David Downs
East Bay Express
Presented in conjunction with the Baltimore Student Harm Reduction Coalition