# Berkeley Media Studies Group - LLMs.txt > Berkeley Media Studies Group > Generated by MCPner LLMs.txt Generator for WordPress > Last updated: 2026-10-21T11:45:38-08:00 > Total items: 2516 --- ## What can you say when you can’t say everything? URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/what-can-you-say-when-you-cant-say-everything/ Type: publications Modified: 2026-08-27 Words: 2699 > Authors: Lori Dorfman, Liana B. Winett, Katherine Schaff, and Pamela Mejia August 26, 2026 https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2026.00921 beenhereAbstractToday’s decisions about what and how to communicate about population health occur amid very real fears and expectations of harsh reprisal that have... Authors: Lori Dorfman, Liana B. Winett, Katherine Schaff, and Pamela Mejia August 26, 2026 https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2026.00921 beenhere Abstract Today’s decisions about what and how to communicate about population health occur amid very real fears and expectations of harsh reprisal that have had far-reaching impacts, both for people’s health and for the health professions. It is in this context that health researchers must share their findings with the public and policy makers, prevent confusion, and avoid harming groups already facing systemic barriers to health. In every communication context—from research papers to quotes on the nightly news—people must make thoughtful choices about what to say. Communication, therefore, is always an act of selection that requires both a clear purpose and a visible connection to the broader contexts for public health measures. With planning, skill, resources, and adherence to best practices for health communication, even difficult or easily misinterpreted information can be communicated clearly and accessibly while also maintaining accuracy. To build trust and be understood by the public and policy makers, public health researchers and practitioners must clearly, directly, contextually, and descriptively speak to the challenges affecting population health. Health communication is getting a lot of attention these days, and rightly so. Scientists need to communicate clearly with each other, as each new study builds on the last. Researchers and practitioners need to communicate with decision makers and the public so that we can all make informed decisions about policy and personal health alike. Yet in every communication context—from articles published in Health Affairs to quotes on the nightly news—people must make choices about what to say, as space, formats, and different informational needs all limit what can be conveyed and received. The question is: How to decide what to include? What information should be prioritized to best support the public’s health? And how should it be expressed? Alan Gerber and colleagues explore the first question in this issue of Health Affairs, having queried policy researchers and practitioners about whether and why they might omit findings when they communicate via “speeches, testimony, podcasts, TV or radio interviews, other communication with journalists, posting on social media, and other forms of oral or written communication to a general audience.”1 More than half of respondents indicated that only in limited circumstances (preventing public confusion, avoiding stigma, and not assisting actors who might use the information to harm populations) would they consider omitting some research findings in these channels. This study was fielded in the spring of 2025, at an especially fraught time for communicating about health policy research. In January 2025, health research, policy, and government practice were under direct attack, being politicized, chastised, and defunded by the new administration’s executive order2 establishing the Department of Government Efficiency; in February 2025, the list of federally “banned research words”3 was released, all of which are used to describe what is needed to ensure that groups harmed by historical and current systems can be healthy. Moreover, the country remains in the wake of polarization and misinformation about COVID-19 and its protective measures.4 Public health workers report being doxxed, harassed, and physically threatened simply for wanting to ensure that everyone in their communities can enjoy good health.5 Those needing to communicate for the benefit of population health have been weighed down by this environment. Yet we still need to communicate about health, even difficult or easily misinterpreted information, clearly and accessibly, without compromising accuracy. That, of course, takes planning, skill, resources, and adherence to best practices for health communication. So we must start by appreciating that task. In his 1948 framework, Harold Lasswell described communication as, “Who, says what, in which channel, to whom, with what effect.”6 His definition seeded the communication models and practices applied today, emphasizing the intersections among purpose, audience, and context. This means that communication is always an act of selection: Those communicating must determine what is important now, for which audiences and what purpose, and how audiences will best be reached. One way to organize this set of tasks is by thinking about strategy and framing, each of which requires decision making and assessment of context. Strategy Our work demonstrates that before anyone can know what to say, they must know what to do (or what choices are being considered). This means that communication needs to be guided by strategies for improving the public’s health. Within the broader mission of population health, we communicate information in times of risk or emergency, when policy is being con... --- ## Flipping the narrative about state-sanctioned violence URL: https://www.bmsg.org/flipping-the-narrative-about-state-sanctioned-violence/ Type: post Modified: 2026-07-01 Words: 1957 > Last September, in my hometown of Stockton, police killed Rocco Robinson, a teenage man of Black and Asian descent. His family was left not only to grieve a significant loss... Last September, in my hometown of Stockton, police killed Rocco Robinson, a teenage man of Black and Asian descent. His family was left not only to grieve a significant loss but to navigate a narrative landscape that emphasized their son’s alleged noncompliance over his death. In the aftermath of police killings, official law enforcement accounts often shape news narratives and the public’s understanding of events. The talking points are consistent: Law enforcement agencies at all levels of our government, as well as the United States military, justify their violence toward civilians by claiming they are protecting the safety of their officers from an unruly, noncompliant public. This was the case a decade ago this month, when Baton Rouge officers fatally shot Alton Sterling after claiming that he had a gun on him. Advocates called for a trial to look into possible police misconduct, but detractors refrained from taking action, claiming that it was Sterling’s noncompliance that got him killed. The day after Sterling’s death, officers in Falcon Heights, Minnesota killed Philando Castile in front of his partner and daughter, even though he complied with the officers’ orders and informed them of the firearm in his vehicle. Is compliance the issue? From left to right: Rocco’s sister, Kelly; Gemini, a long-time family friend and Rocco’s former babysitter; and Rocco’s mother, Samantha Pathammavong Police officers are rarely tried in court for shooting civilians, and even if they are (like in Castile’s case), they are often acquitted of wrongdoing. In Rocco’s case, family members and organizers were determined both to challenge the narrative that noncompliance should justify the killing of civilians by police and to try the officers responsible for murder. They organized a campaign that painted a more complete picture of the teen, sharing stories about Rocco the grandson, Rocco the volunteer, and Rocco the person who deserved to lead a full life. They also harnessed the power of Stockton’s media environment to raise questions about accountability and transparency, and about how Robinson’s death could have been prevented. How can other advocates similarly challenge problematic narratives surrounding police brutality and other forms of state-sanctioned violence? And how can we translate those efforts into meaningful policy and systems changes that bring justice to families like Rocco’s? To learn more, I attended a police brutality forum hosted by Rocco’s family and local organizers. The forum offered meaningful insights into the tactics community messengers can use to counter dominant narratives about police violence. Berkeley Media Studies Group’s Layers of Strategy framework offers a structured roadmap for understanding how Rocco’s advocates moved from highlighting an individual tragedy to working to achieve specific policy changes. Advocates working on any public health or social justice issue can use the framework to move conversations beyond isolated incidents and toward systemic accountability. Overall strategy Before you know what you want to SAY, you have to know what you want to DO. When embarking on an advocacy campaign, advocates should first define the specific problem, articulate its policy solution(s), and identify the targets, allies, and actions necessary to achieve change. Otherwise, advocates risk spinning their wheels with general awareness campaigns that don’t actually change systems. For Rocco’s family, the problem was clear: Stockton Police Department and other local media outlets portrayed Rocco as a gang-adjacent, violent adult who threatened officer safety. They disregarded how Rocco volunteered at Stockton’s local Buddhist temple and how he cared for his grandmother and little brother. This negative portrayal reinforced the dominant narrative that the police are right to execute civilians who don’t comply. From left to right: Kelly, Rocco’s sister, Charles Udeze, Gemini, Rocco’s former babysitter, Samantha, Alyssa Leiva, Organizer for Stockton Stands, Rocco’s brother, Nat, and Michael from Dare2Struggle Bay Area Undeterred, his family set out to advocate for policy changes that would bring about justice for Rocco and for other families hurt by police violence. The goal was to build and motivate a critical mass of Stocktonians — primarily those most likely to encounter local law enforcement — to hold police accountable. By spreading Rocco’s story and encouraging other local victims and survivors to tell their own, they could push back against the dominant narrative. Rocco’s family coordinated with the Bay Area chapter of Dare to Struggle, a multinational advocacy organization focused on ending police brutality and holding police accountable for violence; Stockton Stands, a Stockton, California-based abolition group founded during the 2020 George Floyd protests; and other local partners to address the slanted portrayal. The family and organizers coordinated “Justice for Rocco” week, a series ... --- ## With community and collective power, we can create an equitable future URL: https://www.bmsg.org/with-community-and-collective-power-we-can-create-an-equitable-future/ Type: post Modified: 2026-05-22 Words: 1014 > Earlier this month, I joined many of my friends and colleagues working in public health in the Fruitvale district of Oakland for May Day, a general strike, march, and resource... Earlier this month, I joined many of my friends and colleagues working in public health in the Fruitvale district of Oakland for May Day, a general strike, march, and resource fair celebrating the rights, dignity, and power of working people. Many of us already clock long hours to support the health of our communities and country, so why would we take to the streets? Because moments like these remind us that health is built collectively and expands beyond the walls of clinics and public agencies. Public health starts with the conditions people live and work in, and those conditions are shaped by power. The people who set wage policies, decide whether hospitals stay open, and determine who gets protected by the law and who doesn’t hold tremendous power over our daily lives — power that they are not going to simply hand over. So, we must raise our voices to demand change. Still, at a time when so many people are feeling weary from threats to their communities, it’s not enough to point out what isn’t working. As public health champions, we must also offer a vision for what’s possible. We must allow ourselves to dream. BMSG’s co-founder Lori Dorfman and co-director Katherine Schaff From time to time, I try a simple exercise: imagining what the world would look and feel like if we achieved racial and health equity. A world where everyone has what they need to be healthy. Things like jobs with dignity that pay enough to live and leave people with time to spend with family and friends. Good schools. Transportation that connects us while taking care of our Earth. The peace that comes from having a roof over our heads and a full belly each night. Laws and policies that see people as fully human and ensure their rights are protected. And if I’m truly dreaming big, we’d all have the things we need not just to survive, but to thrive. It can be hard to really picture this, but each time, I try to push a little further. In this vision, I’m still working hard at a job I care about, but I’m not carrying the quiet fear of whether I’ll be able to retire, or whether an illness could undo everything, and in my deepest dreams, everyone has a sense of ease, including me. When I go for walks with my friends, there would still be hardships — the loss of a loved one, the heartbreak of a relationship that didn’t work out — but we’d spend more time talking about things that excite us, things that bring us joy, like sending a child off to college without worrying about the immense debt, or staying close to loved ones as they age and having supports to help with their care. There would be no fear of friends and neighbors getting caught in ICE raids, and we wouldn’t have to worry about how to stay in the Bay Area we love when homeownership and security are beyond the reach for many. I would be excited for the children in my life and how their paths will unfold, without the creeping fear that wildfires, rising oceans, and extreme heat will rob them of their futures. The barriers we need to remove to create this world are not abstract. They were named on the signs I saw at the march from my public health colleagues and all of our allies who work tirelessly to make this dream a reality. Signs that connected wages, working conditions, housing policy, and climate policy to our collective health. For the resource fair, there were tables helping people connect to health services, housing advocacy, saving our public transit, and connecting people to ways to stay engaged between and beyond voting. The messages on our signs challenged Congressional decisions that funnel money to ICE while our public hospitals close, and called out decisions that fill the pockets of corporate CEOs while children go to bed with empty stomachs. Oakland resident Sophie Simon-Ortiz, who is the Organizing Project Director at Health in Partnership (and leader of the national mobilization that saw public health contingents in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Colorado, Holyoke, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, Oakland, Providence, Sacramento, San Jose, Seattle, and Washington D.C.), summed up why we were in the streets: “What does it say that we have billions of dollars for war, ICE kidnappings, and surveillance while millions of our neighbors and loved ones are struggling to pay their medical bills or rent? It’s time that all of us — not just corrupt politicians, tech bros, and war profiteers — can live full, healthy, dignified lives.” At the march, I was reminded that many others clearly see these connections and have been acting on them for generations and that public health does not, and cannot, go it alone. The generational wisdom was on full display in Oakland — from our elders who have been marching for decades to youth raising new questions in new ways that push my thinking. The solidarity was also clear: While some groups and signs forefronted a single issue, there was a lot of love and support for one another and recognition that our causes are int... --- ## Behind the scenes of a 60 Minutes interview: What public health advocates can learn URL: https://www.bmsg.org/behind-the-scenes-of-a-60-minutes-interview-what-public-health-advocates-can-learn/ Type: post Modified: 2026-04-15 Words: 1998 > Jolie Foreman, director for Shelby County Cares, speaks with 60 Minutes about preventing firearm suicide among farmers. If someone had told Jolie Foreman that one day she would be speaking... Jolie Foreman, director for Shelby County Cares, speaks with 60 Minutes about preventing firearm suicide among farmers. If someone had told Jolie Foreman that one day she would be speaking on a televised broadcast to 10 million viewers, she wouldn’t have believed them. The topic, firearm suicide, can be overwhelming even in private conversations, let alone on a national platform. “Two years ago I couldn’t hardly get up at church and talk about it. … I get terrified — like stress city,” Foreman said. Foreman is the director for Shelby County Cares, a nonprofit in rural Missouri that supports the well-being of farmers, a group with three times the general population’s risk of suicide. She and a cohort of volunteers connect them and their families to mental health resources and challenge the stigma that causes too many people, especially men, to suffer silently instead of reaching out for help. “Anything about firearms is a very hard conversation, and it seems like anything about suicide is a very hard conversation, too,” Foreman said. “So it’s kind of a double whammy.” Firearm suicide in general receives scant media attention, and its impact on farming communities is almost nonexistent in the news. That omission means that many people know very little about this health disparity or the underlying risk factors of a high-stress occupation like farming, which is shaped by financial volatility, unpredictable weather patterns, and other risks. The silence and misconceptions surrounding firearm suicide are exactly why Foreman knew she had to overcome her nerves and say “yes” when she got a call from a 60 Minutes producer, asking to learn more from her and her community. And Foreman, a deeply private person who hates public speaking, wants other advocates to know that if she can survive the pressure-cooker intensity of a high-stakes interview, they can too. She emphasized that the impact of gaining national coverage made the short-term stress worth it. “The coverage created credibility and visibility that small, rural organizations rarely get,” Foreman said. “It opened doors to new partnerships, speaking invitations, funding conversations, and collaborative work we simply wouldn’t have had access to otherwise. More importantly, it shifted the tone of conversations, from ‘Why does this matter?’ to ‘How do we help?’” To learn more, we sat down with Foreman, who shared what the interview process was like, from the intake call to being vulnerable on camera to viewing the final edit. Her experience offers valuable lessons for advocates considering media engagement on any issue, especially emotionally charged or controversial ones. Media and messaging tips for advocates Start small and leverage connections. Before Foreman connected with 60 Minutes, she already had experience pitching to and being interviewed by smaller outlets. “Start local — don’t hesitate to reach out and tell them you have a story you would like to share and why it is significant,” Foreman advises, noting that local publications are often excited to have fresh content. Over time, that persistence pays off, not just because of short-term news attention but also because it can help advocates build connections and create exposure that catches the eye of larger outlets. Both of these factors can lead to coverage outside of direct pitching. Foreman’s opportunity with 60 Minutes is a case in point. That interview came about because one of Foreman’s contacts with the U.S. Farm Report, a syndicated television program focused on agriculture and rural issues, dropped her name to 60 Minutes. Clarify your purpose and boundaries before the opportunity comes. Remembering your “why” can help you clarify your message and calm your nerves. For Foreman, this meant switching from a mindset of a perfectionist to that of a servant to a cause. “There was this drive in me that I had a mission to deliver on this subject matter, knowing that a change could be created because of it,” she said. Focusing on the broader impact of the story also helped her to navigate some of the heavier emotions that she knew would arise with a topic like firearm suicide — one that has touched her family personally, with the deaths of her husband’s great grandfather and two uncles. “Anchor yourself to a purpose, not just the pain,” she said. Additionally, although Foreman and her family were open and vulnerable on camera, they considered ahead of time what details they were comfortable sharing. “You don’t have to tell everything to tell the truth,” she said. “It’s okay to set boundaries around what parts of your story are shared publicly.” Expect to act quickly. Journalists often face intense deadline pressure, so speed and responsiveness matter. Being able to say “yes” quickly — and follow through — can make the difference between coverage and a missed opportunity. After an initial call with Foreman, the producer she spoke with let her know that he would need to pitch the story internally and get... --- ## Rethinking heroes: How to tell fuller stories of movements and advocacy URL: https://www.bmsg.org/rethinking-heroes-how-to-tell-fuller-stories-of-movements-and-advocacy/ Type: post Modified: 2026-03-24 Words: 1637 > If history shapes what we believe is possible, then how we tell the story directly affects what we are able to achieve. Stories about the Civil Rights Movement, for example,... If history shapes what we believe is possible, then how we tell the story directly affects what we are able to achieve. Stories about the Civil Rights Movement, for example, continue to influence today’s advocacy for racial justice just as much as legal and policy victories do. Decades later, it’s easy to recall the bravery and grit of some of the movement’s biggest heroes, like Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on the bus or journalist Ida B. Wells investigating the horrors of lynching, because these are the stories we repeat regularly year after year. We share them in the news and on social media, during holidays and awareness months, in classrooms and at our kitchen tables. They are part of the country’s cultural fabric and motivate us to keep going during times of social and political upheaval. It’s not surprising, then, that many organizers and advocates are devastated following a New York Times investigation revealing that Cesar Chavez, a United Farm Workers co-founder and one of the most renowned figures in the Latino civil rights movement, had sexually abused girls for many years, including UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta, an icon in her own right. In addition to expressing sadness and outrage, people are grappling with how to respond and raising important questions that will no doubt shape how we talk about farmworker organizing for years to come. Many have asked: Do we speak out and, if so, how? When such a central figure is accused of causing harm, how do we condemn their behavior without erasing broader historic contributions and positive social change? And, going forward, how do we create narratives that are more inclusive and enduring? As our staff began grappling with these questions to equip advocates with guidance, we were heartened to see early examples of powerful messages being shared online. Some common threads emerged, with important implications and lessons for communicators, and we’ve distilled them below. In situations like this, effective messages, whether from nonprofits, news outlets, or individual advocates, often do several key things: Acknowledge complexity. It’s OK to pause before communicating in the immediate aftermath of tragic news. Threading the messaging needle is tricky, and pivoting too soon or trying to sanitize a complex narrative can feel inauthentic and backfire. Instead, it can be helpful — and validating to your audience — to acknowledge discomfort and complexity while naming harm. After all, accountability strengthens movements rather than destroys them. That’s why we liked this message from Colsaria Henderson, the executive director of Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence, one of many organizations that weighed in after the news broke. Her writing, excerpted below, shows that hope and heartache can coexist: “Cesar Chavez was one of many that led and became the face of the United Farm Workers movement,” she wrote on LinkedIn. “He is known, loved, and revered as a former community member and leader in Eastside San Jose. The UFW movement has led to countless positive changes in families, systems, and in how the world understands humanity, modalities for social change, and People Power. The movement though did not stop or end with him. While he is often said to be the face of the movement, countless women, people, and families made undeniable contributions. Dolores [Huerta]’s account of abuse, released today, has broken our hearts and has us trying to hold and balance the public leadership and success needed for communities, with the horrific and irreparable harm an individual with power and privilege can cause.” Center survivor voices. It’s common and understandable for initial conversations following serious allegations to focus primarily on the perpetrator of harm. We see this in reporting on many types of violence, from mass shootings to sexual abuse. People want to know what happened to help them make sense of it. Those details matter, but they are only part of the story. It takes tremendous courage to come forward publicly as Debra Rojas, Ana Marguía, and other survivors did. We need to hear from those directly affected, if they feel safe enough to share. The Associated Press brought a key survivor voice to its coverage, running an article by Susan Montoya Bryan headlined “Dolores Huerta Ends Her Silence, Champions Decades of Advocacy for Marginalized Groups.” Critically, the story doesn’t focus solely on her victimization at the hands of Chavez; it presents Huerta, a revered labor leader and feminist activist, as a whole person, highlighting her upbringing, accomplishments within the movement, and impressive accolades including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “Members of Congress and state officials commend [Huerta] and the other women for coming forward,” Montoya Bryan wrote. “They say no one should have to suffer in silence to protect a man or a movement.” Express shared values. Photo by Shaddai Martinez Cuestas. Several years ago, BMSG had the... --- ## One statistic that should change how journalists cover domestic violence URL: https://www.bmsg.org/one-statistic-that-should-change-how-journalists-cover-domestic-violence/ Type: post Modified: 2026-03-13 Words: 1602 > Most journalists want to report on domestic violence in ways that inform the public without causing further harm to survivors and their loved ones. But doing that well isn’t always... Most journalists want to report on domestic violence in ways that inform the public without causing further harm to survivors and their loved ones. But doing that well isn’t always straightforward — especially when it comes to centering survivor experiences. This tension may underlie a key gap in coverage: A news analysis from Berkeley Media Studies Group found that between 2023 and 2025, just one in five California news stories about domestic violence included a quote or anecdote from a survivor. “This missing perspective is critical,” said Rachael Kagan, director of communications and public affairs at Blue Shield of California Foundation, which supported the research as part of a larger effort to improve reporting on domestic violence. “We can’t expect the public to fully understand the scope of the problem, let alone what solutions are possible, if we aren’t hearing from the people who are most directly affected. Now that we know just how underrepresented survivor voices are, we can work with journalists to make coverage more inclusive.” To learn more about the new research findings, their implications for domestic violence news narratives, and how reporters can include survivor voices safely and responsibly, I spoke with Pamela Mejia, lead author of the analysis. Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity. Q&A BMSG’s analysis found that only about one in five news stories included a quote or anecdote from a survivor. What’s your reaction to that finding? Did it surprise you? Advocates and people in the field have known for a long time that domestic violence tends to be under-reported, certainly compared to its actual prevalence. And when it is reported, some real opportunities are lost to bring the full picture forward of what domestic violence is, how it affects families, how it affects communities, and what needs to happen to prevent it — and support people who’ve experienced it. So I knew that there was going to be an absence of some kind, but I was taken aback by how stark it was. My immediate reaction was to wonder what stories aren’t being told if domestic violence survivors are really absent from the coverage. What do we not learn about the full truth of domestic violence and its impact on families and communities if the people who are most directly impacted — the people who are closest to not only the experience of domestic violence, but also the services and systems that can help address and prevent domestic violence — if they’re not part of the story? How does a lack of survivor-centered reporting affect how audiences understand domestic violence? Important nuances get lost when survivors are not part of the story. For one thing, statistics can paint a picture of domestic violence, but people’s understanding of the issue is limited when we don’t hear more about the range of experiences that comprise domestic violence, from coercion and emotional and verbal abuse all the way up to more explicit and extreme acts of physical abuse or even death. Stigma is also an issue. If survivors aren’t allowed to tell their own stories, some of the well-documented patterns of stigmatizing language and framing that we know tend to be part of news coverage of domestic violence, those aren’t challenged. We know from decades of research that domestic violence reporting historically tends to minimize harm by characterizing incidents as, for example, a fight that got out of hand, or suggesting that there was blame on both sides of an incident. And when survivors don’t get a chance to share their experiences, that kind of implicitly stigmatizing language goes unchecked and uncorrected. The other thing I would say is that survivors are not only experts in the trauma of what happened to them; survivors also know best what can help prevent domestic violence from happening. They know best what their families need to heal, and they know best how the services and supports in our state succeed or fail the survivors and the families who need them the most. Including survivors gives us a deeper understanding of what we need to do as families, as communities, and as a state to treat and prevent domestic violence. Did your analysis uncover examples where survivor voices were included particularly well? If so, what made those stories feel different or more complete? We did find a few examples, which are highlighted in the report, where survivor’s voices were included. And I think the strongest examples were the ones that touched on the duality that I named, not only painting a fuller picture of the problem but also highlighting the lived wisdom of people advocating for solutions. These stories brought some texture and lived experience to the realities of what domestic violence means, how it impacts families — that it’s not just a private family issue that we can turn away from, but actually something that affects whole communities and has far reaching and long-ranging impacts. The strongest examples of survivor ... --- ## Narrative work feels hard right now. This new tool on narrating racial justice can help URL: https://www.bmsg.org/narrative-work-feels-hard-right-now-this-new-tool-on-narrating-racial-justice-can-help/ Type: post Modified: 2026-03-05 Words: 732 > Right now it feels both essential and difficult to hold onto a vision for what a socially and racially just country could look like: a country where we all have... Right now it feels both essential and difficult to hold onto a vision for what a socially and racially just country could look like: a country where we all have the resources and freedom we need to live the fullest version of our lives, where every community has a voice in making that vision a reality and the freedom to name harm — safely and without punishment — when it occurs. That’s why narrative work is foundational to movements for justice. But if you’ve had trouble finding your footing, or your voice, in recent months, you’re not alone. Millions of people are experiencing a destabilizing mix of grief and uncertainty about the country’s future amid attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion; deep cuts to programs that keep communities healthy; and ongoing violence at the hands of the state. The harms from these threats do not stop with violations to our rights or physical safety. Fear spreads like a contagion, shaping what we say, whether we speak up at all, and whether we feel safe standing up for our neighbors, or even ourselves. In times like these, many communicators feel a familiar tension between the urge to say something and the fear of getting it wrong. And questions about how to address critical nuances — like the fact that not all communities experience the same level of risks, and media coverage does not treat all victims the same — can fuel important but lengthy internal debates over the best way forward. We get it. It’s hard to know what to say today when narrating racial justice. We’re all struggling to communicate effectively in a rapidly shifting narrative landscape, and that struggle isn’t a coincidence: One of the core strategies of authoritarian fascism (strongman leadership backed up by violence) is to overwhelm, and the rise in disinformation and authoritarian rhetoric we are seeing in mainstream spaces only intensifies those feelings. Still, to protect our democracy and defend core values like racial equity and inclusion, we must raise our voices, even when we feel hesitant. The tool BMSG’s Head of Media Advocacy, Rosaura Wardsworth, presents at the Just Narratives convening in St. Louis in November 2025. A new decision-making tool from Berkeley Media Studies Group and Narrative Initiative can help you and your partners navigate that uncertainty and overcome decision paralysis. The tool helps guide you through strategic decisions unique to your situation and audiences, so that you can more confidently create messages that center the needs of those most harmed by the current regime, inspire action, and move us toward the future we want to live in. We first launched it for testing at the Just Narratives convening in November 2025, and we’re grateful to the participants in that workshop for helping us revise and improve it. The tool draws on BMSG and Narrative Initiative’s collective decades of research and practical experience to support your organization’s vital work of narrating racial justice in challenging times. It’s hard, but we can support each other in the work: The tool offers a structured way to think through the tough decisions or challenging questions you may encounter as you write a narrative statement about racial justice. Where possible, we also offer some resources that can help you as you’re considering what to say or how to move forward. The categories covered in the tool include prompts to help you think through: developing your communication strategy (including questions about overall goals, audience, voice and values, etc.); navigating internal decision-making, including safety and legal concerns; ensuring narrative alignment and mapping power dynamics; and identifying and exploring relevant research that can support your work. Narrating racial justice is very nuanced, especially right now. You may complete the questions and find that you still need to talk with partners, coalition members, etc. about a final decision —- that’s okay! Think of this as a tool to help you consider what still needs to be discussed and what questions remain. In the face of rising authoritarian fascism, building narrative power matters more than ever. We hope this resource helps you raise your voice — not only to resist, but to continue the fight to build the just future we know is possible. Download tool PDF Access Google Doc tool template --- ## The news about domestic violence: Findings from an analysis of California news, 2023-2025 URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/the-news-about-domestic-violence-findings-from-an-analysis-of-california-news-2023-2025/ Type: publications Modified: 2026-03-11 Words: 107 > We can’t solve a problem we don’t know is happening — and when it comes to domestic violence, decades of research suggest that news coverage may miss the scope and... We can’t solve a problem we don’t know is happening — and when it comes to domestic violence, decades of research suggest that news coverage may miss the scope and impact of the problem, and the important work advocates and organizations are doing to end it. With support from the Blue Shield of California Foundation, we evaluated English-language news about domestic violence to identify coverage strengths, gaps, and opportunities for improvement. Our report includes recommendations to help journalists tell more complete and inclusive stories about domestic violence. Download the report or learn more in this Q&A with lead researcher Pamela Mejia. Download report --- ## Media advocacy toolkit for agricultural safety and health: Expanding on lessons learned from ROPS URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/media-advocacy-toolkit-for-agricultural-safety-and-health-expanding-on-lessons-learned-from-rops/ Type: publications Modified: 2026-07-02 Words: 13360 > Foreword Agricultural work requires some of the most demanding of all physical labor, and, as such, is often highlighted in the public health literature as an industry with comparatively high... Foreword Agricultural work requires some of the most demanding of all physical labor, and, as such, is often highlighted in the public health literature as an industry with comparatively high rates of work-related injuries and deaths. Research and interventions have typically (and for good reason) focused on encouraging farmers and agricultural workers to invest in safety equipment, use best practices in hazard prevention, and encourage proactive, safety-focused work environments, among other precautions. However, even when interventions have been proven effective, expanding and implementing them broadly has been difficult and often frustrating for those involved. While encouraging workers and worksites to take a more active role in improving safety is crucial, it may not be as effective when workers don’t have adequate agency to create safer work conditions, and small business owners struggle to invest in better equipment, training, and sufficient staffing for farming operations. These challenges, which many farmers face, inform our mission to support the wellbeing and sustainability of the agricultural workforce, and so we look for ways to improve outcomes by addressing the larger structural issues at play. This is where media advocacy can help. The Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing (NEC) found media advocacy as we were searching for ways to expand the success we’d seen social marketing bring to ROPS, rollover protective structures that can help prevent tractor overturn fatalities. ROPS offer a good example of the importance of addressing structural factors along with changing downstream, individual behaviors. Tractor rollovers are the leading cause of death on farms annually, and while ROPS’ efficacy has been widely established in the scientific literature, many older tractors still lack these essential devices. Efforts to increase the installation of ROPS on tractors using social marketing approaches have been remarkably successful in encouraging farmers to install ROPS. However, garnering the state or national support to implement this evidence-based solution has proven remarkably challenging, likely because of the need for using public resources rather than relying on individuals to assume all the costs. Media advocacy presents a promising approach for tackling these upstream barriers to success, as it helps us turn our attention to the social and political context in which policy is decided by influencing the news coverage that informs those decisions. It differs from social marketing, in that media advocacy attempts to amplify an issue to garner broad, public support and pressure decision-makers to enact policy, whereas social marketing aims to change a specific behavior by reducing barriers and increasing motivators for a particular target population. The key difference is that, typically, social marketing’s target audience is the people whose personal behavior needs to change to avoid a health harm; with media advocacy, the target audience is situated within the public policy realm where action needs to be taken, and, if it succeeds, that action will then benefit the population whose health is in danger. Media advocacy has been used to address a number of “wicked problems”1 in the public health arena, with notable success, such as reducing the social acceptability of tobacco use, which paved the way for successful prevention policy. NEC partnered with Berkeley Media Studies Group on this toolkit to expand our collective ability to bring attention to the proven success of ROPS and other agricultural health and safety interventions so our policy decisions can be more thoroughly informed by the science that guides us to health and safety in every workplace. Introduction: What is media advocacy? Defining media advocacy Media advocacy is the strategic use of mass media to support community organizers and policy advocates who are mobilizing community groups, residents, researchers, educators, and others to pressure decision-makers to enact policies that support health and safety. Media advocates change how public health issues are presented so that decision-makers can recognize the benefits of specific policies and then act to improve health in communities and society at large. Media advocacy is not about overhauling the mass media itself; rather, it is fundamentally about leveraging myriad communication channels to raise voices in a democratic process that uses policy to change systems and conditions.2 Media advocacy differs from other health communication Media advocacy differs from other health communication in its purpose, target, and theoretical underpinnings. Most health communicators aim to inspire behavior change; they target individuals with messages they hope will motivate them to make healthier choices. These communication strategies operate from exchange theories that assume the health problem derives from a lack of information. In thes... --- ## Top 10 public health and social justice media bites of 2025 URL: https://www.bmsg.org/top-10-public-health-and-social-justice-media-bites-of-2025/ Type: post Modified: 2025-12-18 Words: 1444 > 2025 has been marked by political absurdity. When President Donald Trump took office for the second time, he filled key federal positions with high-profile political actors such as Elon Musk... 2025 has been marked by political absurdity. When President Donald Trump took office for the second time, he filled key federal positions with high-profile political actors such as Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr — a shift that has amplified disinformation and political mudslinging at the expense of public knowledge and wellbeing. Yet, as the year comes to an end, we’re buoyed by how resistance has risen to the occasion, as advocates, organizers, and activists refuse to back down. “Empire doesn’t attack what isn’t working,” said Shanelle Matthews, former communications director for the national Movement for Black Lives and founder of the Radical Communicators Network, known as RadComms. Equity-focused organizations and individuals have used this momentum to strengthen their demands and remain determined in the face of opposition. These voices and actions are often echoed and amplified in news coverage. In keeping with our annual tradition, BMSG staff compiled a list of media bites — quotes from news articles, interviews, and social media that stick with us long after we first hear or read them. Here are this year’s top 10 media bites, which embody the spirit of resistance and resilience. We hope our selections inspire you and invite you to share your own favorite quotes with us on social media. Top 10 media bites “I shouldn’t have to be worried, while doing my applications in a study room, about a kid who got shot in the bathroom. That’s not a concern a 17-year-old, a 14-year-old, or anyone should have.” – AJ Baldridge, a senior at Skyline High in Oakland Appeared Nov. 18, 2025 in The Oaklandside Why we like it: Far too few news articles quote youth, even when the issue being discussed directly affects them. In this media bite, Baldridge puts the reader in her shoes, showing us the school environment she occupies — an often overlooked perspective in media coverage of school shootings. “SNAP is a tool for maintaining stability, dignity, and self-determination. SNAP is about not having to choose between darkness and dinner.” – Alexina Cather MPH, Director of Policy and Special Projects at Wellness in the Schools Appeared Nov. 11, 2025 in Civil Eats Why we like it: Cather uses her authentic voice, highlighting her own lived experiences to illustrate why SNAP is vital to public wellbeing. While Cather doesn’t explicitly use the word “government,” she shows that government is how we bring solutions to scale. “Every affordable unit represents a story of stability: a child who can stay in their same school, a nurse who can live near the hospital, a barista who can walk to work, a retiree who can remain in the community they helped build. … Housing is not just a policy issue, it’s a foundation for community well-being.” – Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley Appeared Oct. 18, 2025 in the Santa Cruz Sentinel Why we like it: At BMSG, we often advise advocates to bring context into their storytelling and make the landscape as vivid as the portrait. This media bite shows what that looks like in practice. In it, Mayor Keeley brings policy to life by showing how affordable housing improves the lives of individuals and families — and has positive ripple effects on the community as a whole. “If large swaths of the population were being sickened by a poison released from an industrial plant, no one would suggest that the solution is to just offer home filters, wearables and supplements. The only real path to restoring health would have to include mandating the removal of the poison from the environment.” -Julia Belluz and Kevin Hall, co-authors of the book Food Intelligence Appeared Sept. 10, 2025 in The New York Times Why we like it: Metaphors are an effective way to help people understand complex or abstract issues. Here, Belluz and Hall use an excellent analogy to show the role of environments in shaping health and make the case for systemic solutions to the environment created by food companies. “We are not the footnotes in some infamous predator’s tabloid article. We are the experts and the subjects of this story. … We are one powerful voice, too loud to ignore, and we will never be silenced again.” – Jess Michaels, survivor of abuse by Jeffrey Epstein Appeared September 3, 2025, in Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American Why we like it: Michaels makes a powerful call for justice and accountability, noting that “they are not favors from the powerful. They are obligations decades overdue.” She highlights the strength of the survivors of sexual abuse and trafficking who keep raising their voices despite how difficult that is. In a case that has often been relegated to a political circus, Michaels reminds us that real human lives were impacted — and survivors refuse to be silenced. “The vaccine isn’t running for public office. We don’t need to vote to determine whether to use it. We need to do a better job explaining the science that supports the use of the vaccine.” – Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Ce... --- ## A better blueprint for trans coverage: Lessons from TJA’s Kae Petrin URL: https://www.bmsg.org/better-trans-coveage-kae-petrin/ Type: post Modified: 2025-12-04 Words: 2256 > Across the country, news about transgender people is shaping how audiences understand gender, rights, and community life. With so much at stake — and with misinformation spreading fast — BMSG... Across the country, news about transgender people is shaping how audiences understand gender, rights, and community life. With so much at stake — and with misinformation spreading fast — BMSG recently conducted a media analysis in collaboration with the Trans Journalists Association to learn more about coverage. The analysis explored how journalists reported executive orders impacting trans people signed by President Donald Trump in his first 100 days in office. These executive orders threaten the way trans people navigate daily life by creating limits and obstacles to accessing legal documents, health care, and education. The analysis highlighted a dearth of trans voices in related media coverage and put forward recommendations on how journalists can improve their reporting when it comes to policies impacting trans communities. As a follow up, we talked with TJA co-founder and board president Kae Petrin, one of the leading voices guiding newsrooms on this coverage, to hear their thoughts on the analysis, the present media landscape, and how we can move forward. Q&A: Responses have been edited for length and clarity. Tell me a bit about your background. What brought you into this line of work? I’m a data journalist, and I’ve spent my entire career in local news in one form or another. I’m also one of the co-founders of the Trans Journalists Association, which launched in 2020. My work with BMSG brings together the data and accountability reporting I’ve always done, and my commitment to improving media coverage of trans communities. Traditionally, I’m the person who takes a spreadsheet from a government agency, analyzes it, and translates it into something meaningful for the public. With this project, we’re generating the dataset ourselves, analyzing it, and then applying a broader lens to journalism as a field. It’s still the kind of accountability work I’ve done my whole career, just focused on a different part of the ecosystem. What inspired this particular research project? Was there a moment, headline, or story that made you think, “We need to study this”? In January, as Trump’s second term began, the administration issued executive orders at a rapid pace. Journalists were scrambling to contextualize them because executive orders aren’t laws, but they can still shape policy and administrative behavior — and many were already getting challenged, changed, or blocked in real time. Some of the earliest orders are still tied up in the courts. They impacted so many different areas of civic life that newsrooms were under pressure to decide what to cover and how. At the Trans Journalists Association, we were especially concerned with the orders redefining sex and gender across federal agencies. Those definitions have enormous implications not only for trans people but for anyone who doesn’t fit neatly into the gender binary. Sometimes the gender-related language was buried in orders that weren’t about gender on their face — like an order on birthright citizenship that casually defines a mother as a “female biological progenitor” and a father as a “male biological progenitor.” With more than 140 orders released in such a short window, we wondered: How are journalists going to cover this? What’s getting attention, and what’s slipping through the cracks? Since we already had a partnership with BMSG, we realized we were in a position to ask some of those questions and generate useful data. Did anything about the findings surprise you — or confirm what you already suspected? The headline finding that very few stories quoted trans people, even when the policy directly affected us, did not surprise me. I was surprised that the number wasn’t even lower. I expected even more stories with zero trans sources. We were also curious about how stories used data. Misuse of data is a recurring problem in trans coverage, and we expected to see a lot of that. Instead, most mainstream outlets were using very basic data, and the explicit misuse we saw was mostly concentrated in one right-leaning publication. In hindsight, that makes sense: This was largely breaking news coverage, not longer-form work where data gets interpreted more heavily. Some of the more interesting patterns, like how consequences were described or whether stories contextualized uncertainty, would’ve required deeper qualitative analysis to unpack fully. Why do you think journalists so often relied on government officials without including trans people themselves? Time pressure is a big part of it. Many journalists don’t have deep source networks in trans communities, and trans people understandably don’t always trust reporters. Building relationships takes time — time that reporters on tight deadlines often don’t have. So, they default to the people who pick up the phone quickly: government officials. There’s also a structural issue in political journalism. Many newsrooms treat policy stories as political stories, so the reflex is to call a Republican and a Dem... --- ## After the headlines fade: Honoring Marshawn Kneeland by expanding the conversation on suicide and firearms URL: https://www.bmsg.org/after-the-headlines-fade-honoring-marshawn-kneeland-by-expanding-the-conversation-on-suicide-and-firearms/ Type: post Modified: 2025-11-13 Words: 570 > Last week, football fans were shocked to learn that Dallas Cowboys’ defensive end Marshawn Kneeland died by suicide. News quickly spread beyond the football community, with outlets as large as... Last week, football fans were shocked to learn that Dallas Cowboys’ defensive end Marshawn Kneeland died by suicide. News quickly spread beyond the football community, with outlets as large as USA Today, The New York Times, and People reporting his death. Despite a high volume of headlines, what’s missing from most coverage of Kneeland is the underreported reality that suicide is the leading cause of gun deaths in the U.S. One way we can honor him is by having difficult but necessary conversations about self-harm and guns — and how we can work together to prevent more tragedies. Suicide by any cause remains shrouded in stigma, with obituaries rarely mentioning it, especially when the individual who died is not a celebrity. Add a factor as politically charged as guns, and it becomes even harder for people to discuss, even though open conversations are exactly what we need more of. Another reason why silence surrounds guns and suicide is that many people simply do not know how prevalent the link is. BMSG research has found that in California, firearm suicide is dramatically underreported in the news compared to its actual prevalence — a trend that appears to be true nationally as well. We also know that most coverage of guns appears in the aftermath of more extreme but less common events like mass shootings, which make up less than 2% of gun deaths in the U.S. When we talk about guns primarily in the aftermath of shootings, or the political debates that ensue, we miss an opportunity to address the quieter, everyday crises happening in homes across the country. This is especially true for communities of color: Data suggest firearm suicide rates are on the rise in the Black community, particularly among Black men, though those data points haven’t gotten much attention. Advocates and journalists alike can use this moment to create more visibility — and empathy — in media coverage about suicide prevention and firearms. One group working to understand firearm-related beliefs, perceptions, and behaviors, with a goal of preventing injuries and deaths, is the Missouri Foundation for Health. A recent report from MFH includes results from a survey of more than 1,800 Missouri adults, which the foundation hopes will inform prevention policies and practices. The report notes that most U.S. youth who die by suicide use a firearm belonging to a family member, underscoring the need for safe storage and other ways of limiting access, especially during mental health crises. Public health practitioners and reporters can use the report’s findings to help expand and shift conversations about suicide prevention and firearms. That may seem like a lofty goal in what feels like a deeply divided time, but data from the Pew Research Center has found that everyday Americans share a lot of common ground in their views on guns. Ultimately, people across the political spectrum value safety, but we can’t make progress without having honest conversations and working to remove the taboo from topics like suicide. Journalists looking to increase or strengthen their reporting on suicide can find guidance in this resource developed by Poynter, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, among other groups. Advocates can find more information, including sample messages, in this messaging guide that BMSG developed with our partners at the Hope and Heal Fund. --- ## Beyond full bellies: How to communicate the shared benefits and ripple effects of SNAP URL: https://www.bmsg.org/beyond-full-bellies-how-to-communicate-the-shared-benefits-and-ripple-effects-of-snap/ Type: post Modified: 2025-11-04 Words: 1076 > As public health advocates, we know that food is foundational to well-being. And for decades, SNAP has been an effective tool for improving health and reducing poverty in the United... As public health advocates, we know that food is foundational to well-being. And for decades, SNAP has been an effective tool for improving health and reducing poverty in the United States. Yet too often, the public conversation about SNAP is dominated by harmful and inaccurate stereotypes that ignore the program’s broad benefits to families, local economies, and communities. With an abundance of media attention currently on SNAP, public health advocates have an opportunity — and a responsibility — to reframe these discussions. By centering shared values like health, fairness, and community, we can shift the narrative and remind decision-makers that everyone benefits when people have access to the food they need. Although the administration has agreed to partially fund SNAP after two federal judges ruled that the Trump administration must keep the food aid program running, many details remain unclear. As many as 42 million people are in limbo, with anxiety and uncertainty looming around when they will be able to buy groceries again. The sample messages below can help communicators tell a more complete story about SNAP at any time, not just amid urgent crises. These messages were adapted from “Making the Case for Medicaid: 6 Tips for Speaking Out” (a recent blog from BMSG and The FrameWorks Institute) and can be tailored to any community. Each message includes several core elements for developing messages, which can be used when discussing SNAP or any critical health issue. Effective messages should: Name the problem (What’s wrong?); Include a values statement (Why does it matter?); Name a solution (What should we do, and who should do it?); and Illustrate the broader context beyond individuals. While you can use these components in any order, stating your values and proposed solution early helps to engage readers and listeners. Once you have answered these questions, you will have the core of your message, which then can be expanded or distilled, depending on the format you plan to use to deliver it. Sample message: Ripple effects of SNAP cuts SNAP is how we collectively ensure that food is available everywhere and for everyone as a way to have a stronger, healthier country. It allows millions of people to put healthy, nutritious meals on the table and is essential for the oldest and youngest among us: 1 in 5 program participants are seniors over 60, while 2 in 5 are children. Currently, 42 million U.S. residents are stuck in limbo, as details remain unclear on when the Trump administration’s USDA will release funds so that people can access their food benefits. When people are not able to keep their fridges stocked, children with empty bellies will not be able to concentrate in school, and grandparents will have a harder time staying healthy. And the harms of hunger ripple out far beyond SNAP recipients themselves: When families have less to spend, grocers’ shelves empty, paychecks shrink, farmers suffer, and local stores shutter their doors. Our local elected officials must [insert solutions relevant to your local audience, such as “provide local supplemental funding” or “expand funding for food banks”] and fight for a nation where no one goes hungry. Sample message: Ripple effects of robust access to SNAP Our communities thrive when everyone can put healthy food on the table. 42 million people in the U.S, including more than 16 million children, rely on SNAP to stay fed. When families use SNAP, students come to school with full bellies and, in turn, do better in school. The benefits of SNAP don’t stop in childhood: Adults who used SNAP as children have lower risks of heart disease as adults, which means SNAP saves lives. The ripple effects show up everywhere: When families swipe their EBT card at the market, grocers order more produce and keep their cashiers employed, farmers sell more crops, and truck drivers keep the supply chain moving. Funding SNAP is a commonsense solution that not only keeps people fed, but fuels the economic well-being of our communities: Every SNAP dollar stretches even further — growing into $1.50-$1.80 of economic activity, like grocery sales, jobs, and community spending, in our neighborhoods. This is especially critical when people are facing growing unemployment and rising food prices. SNAP spending supports food and beverage manufacturers, wholesalers, grocers, transportation companies, and farmers. Our communities are stronger when they don’t have to worry about where their next meal is coming from, so they can look after their health and well-being. Keeping SNAP adequately funded is a crucial part of that. The Trump administration’s USDA must use its authority to keep food aid flowing, just as the agency has done in previous shutdowns. Sample message: SNAP is the solution to a rigged system SNAP dollars land right at the local market, keeping shelves stocked and cashiers, clerks, and farmers on the job. SNAP ensures everyone has access to food, and it strengthens local ec... --- ## Power mapping for narrative change URL: https://www.bmsg.org/power-mapping-for-narrative-change/ Type: post Modified: 2025-10-24 Words: 2007 > Although our communities — and public health generally — are facing an onslaught of new and varied challenges, it’s important to remember that we already have many of the tools... Although our communities — and public health generally — are facing an onslaught of new and varied challenges, it’s important to remember that we already have many of the tools we need to resist injustice and advance health equity. Power mapping or power analysis — a visual aid developed by community organizers — is one such tool for both building narrative power and advancing policy change that gets us closer to equity. Power mapping can help you channel the strategic wisdom of coalitions and teams to create a more effective strategic communication plan, achieve your policy goals, and address power imbalances to support longer-term social change efforts. It acts as a roadmap for taking big-picture goals and translating them into concrete action steps. BMSG’s Director of Racial and Health Equity Strategy, Dr. Katherine Schaff has supported many groups in California and beyond in using the tool to build narrative power and develop communication plans, after being trained in this approach by leaders in the organizing field: Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE LA) and the School of Unity and Liberation (SOUL). I sat down with Kathi to learn more about power mapping for narrative change and how this tool can help public health effectively meet this moment. Q&A: Responses have been edited for length and clarity. Tell me more about power mapping. Power mapping has long been used by community organizers to create a snapshot of the power dynamics that affect their issue and a plan for shifting those dynamics so those who are most harmed by our systems can have a fair say in the decisions that impact their lives. There’s been a lot of discussion in the last few years about how public health is political, and politics are about power. If we think of power as the ability to achieve a collectively agreed-upon goal, we can see across the country that in many governmental, corporate, or other decisions, people who face some of the poorest health outcomes often are not taken into account in decision-making. Power-mapping helps us understand these dynamics and think about how our narrative and communication strategies can not only help us with specific wins that can improve health and decrease inequities, but also intentionally create ways for those whose voices are often left out of decision-making to build their narrative power for the long haul. A completed power map can look very busy and maybe even overwhelming, but we always go through it step-by-step on Zoom or in person. We have levels of power on the Y-axis (top to bottom) and levels of support for our issue on the X-axis (left to right). We then collectively discuss and add groups like decision-makers, allies, and those who are not yet engaged in our issue but could be added to the map. This is a great catalyst for discussing how we might want to communicate with them (and communication can go both ways — not only talking to people about our issue, but also listening and genuinely partnering with them) to achieve our goal, what materials we need to develop, who would be effective messengers, what communication support they may need, and how any communication step is also an opportunity for groups to build their power in the decision-making arena. Sample power map, adapted from Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE) LA. Why do I need a power map? What is the difference between that and a communication plan? The tools are complementary. A power map can be a foundation for a communication plan and will help ensure that it is strategic. It can help you identify who has the power to create the change you’re seeking, while a strategic communication plan helps you figure out how to reach the people you identified in your power map with your campaign’s core narratives. A power map can also be integrated into BMSG’s Layers of Strategy, a strategic communication planning tool to help advocates ensure that their media and messaging strategies always reinforce their overall goals. A power map is all about understanding relationships and stakeholders: Who are the people whose support could really move the needle? Who are the people whose opposition to your issue threatens what you want to accomplish? And who are the allies who are currently not taken into account by decision-makers but could be with additional training or support? Once you know the answers to these questions, you’ll be better equipped to craft and then carry out your communication plan. The power map can also be integrated seamlessly into BMSG’s Layers of Strategy, a strategic communication planning tool to help advocates ensure that their media and messaging strategies always reinforce their overall goals. What might that look like in practice? Let’s say a group’s strategic goal is to get wavering lawmakers to vote against a harmful housing bill that is about to be passed at the state level and will negatively impact health. You know your main audience is made ... --- ## Visible, yet vulnerable: What journalists can learn from how we covered the attack on trans rights in Trump’s first 100 days URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/visible-yet-vulnerable-what-journalists-can-learn-from-how-we-covered-the-attack-on-trans-rights-in-trumps-first-100-days/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-10-15 Words: 116 > Trump’s first 100 days were dominated by executive orders concerning and limiting trans communities. He signed 140 orders into law, with more than 1 in 10 related to gender. These... Trump’s first 100 days were dominated by executive orders concerning and limiting trans communities. He signed 140 orders into law, with more than 1 in 10 related to gender. These policies reduce trans lives to a political issue to be discussed by people with no relevant lived experience. Present media coverage has only reinforced this problematic narrative, found a new analysis conducted by BMSG in partnership with the Trans Journalists Association. How has the media covered Trump’s attack on trans rights, and how can journalists improve their reporting going forward? The new report sheds light and includes recommendations and tools to help reporters tell more accurate, nuanced, and representative stories. Access the full analysis --- ## Reframing violence & community safety – unpacking the current narrative URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/reframing-violence-community-safety-unpacking-the-current-narrative/ Type: events Modified: 2025-12-30 Words: 83 > Pamela Mejia, BMSG's Research Director and Associate Program Director, recently gave a presentation titled "Changing the Story About Firearms and Community Safety," as a part of Big Cities Health Coalition... Pamela Mejia, BMSG’s Research Director and Associate Program Director, recently gave a presentation titled “Changing the Story About Firearms and Community Safety,” as a part of Big Cities Health Coalition and Prevention Institute’s Unpacking the Current Narrative webinar. In her presentation, Pamela makes a compelling case for reframing the current narrative by using language that inspires hope and healing, rather than focusing on fear and punishment. Presentation recording and slides are available for viewing: Powered By EmbedPress --- ## Overcoming political overwhelm: 3 strategic communication lessons from a community organizer URL: https://www.bmsg.org/overcoming-political-overwhelm-3-strategic-communication-lessons-from-a-community-organizer/ Type: post Modified: 2025-10-03 Words: 1274 > When the Department of Health and Human Services began the process of laying off 10,000 federal employees and terminating billions of dollars of federal contracts in March, public health organizations... When the Department of Health and Human Services began the process of laying off 10,000 federal employees and terminating billions of dollars of federal contracts in March, public health organizations across the country watched with dread. We knew that the administration’s policies and rhetoric against science, diversity, equity, and inclusion would obliterate much of the progress we gained after the worst parts of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were right. Vital federal services, like monitoring lead exposures, upholding workplace safety, and preventing disease outbreaks, have since been eliminated. To fund tax cuts for billionaires, Republicans cut over $600 million from Medicaid funding, effectively stripping the health care of millions of people. These actions will surely have reverberating effects on communities everywhere. And that’s just a snapshot of the bleeding. Amidst ongoing layoffs and service cuts, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. As a community organizer, I know the pain of having to start over from square one. I know what it feels like to see months of canvassing go up in smoke in a single city council meeting. And I’ve seen how internal struggles over approach can paralyze joint action. But I’ve also witnessed community members come together post-mortem to take their power back. This is the stage we’re in right now. This is when the real work begins. The current moment reminds me of a time when my community in Stockton, CA, overhauled our broken school district. Though the work happened on a smaller scale, the challenges we were up against — fraud, corruption, and suppression of the truth, to name a few — run parallel to the federal malfeasance we’re witnessing today. The campaign we ran to repair a badly battered system holds lessons for fellow organizers, advocates, and anyone resisting the United States’ sudden and steep slide into fascism. Here’s what happened: The challenge During my time as an organizer in California’s Central Valley, Stockton Unified School District was consistently among the worst-performing school systems in the state. Students reported dismal scores and graduation rates, spurred by high staff turnover and few educational and social supports. It was even worse for Black and Brown students of the district, which had repeatedly violated their civil rights. Additionally, two county grand jury reports found that the SUSD Board of Trustees had mismanaged funds and violated board bylaws, leading to a $30 million deficit by the 2024-2025 school year. Beyond financial concerns, the Grand Jury reports also connected the Board’s misconduct to low morale and high turnover among teachers and staff. Between 2005 and 2024, SUSD had 14 different superintendents and was at risk of coming under state control. Despite the damning findings, the Board continued to deny the veracity of the reports’ conclusions and operated as usual. School board meetings were akin to WWE matches, with board members shouting and pointing fingers at one another for their inaction. Meanwhile, community members agonized over the implications of the board’s poor leadership. Students continued to suffer academically, emotionally, and physically. The path to change The community called for change, but the Board refused to listen. Because of this, our community took change into our own hands. Lesson 1: Success requires shifting power — be sure your communication goals reflect that. In 2022, local community organizers formed FixSUSD, a loose coalition of parents, students, teachers, and community members that aimed to fix the school board’s dysfunction. The group set its sights on unseating the board members who were up for re-election that year. The group met after school days and board meetings to fortify our strategy. We needed to make voters aware of the school district’s problems and tie incumbent school board members to those issues. We formed messages from the findings of two grand jury reports. It was just a matter of finding the best ways to disseminate them. Lesson 2: If a message doesn’t reach people, it’s not effective. It’s essential to know how your audience gets their information. Sometimes, the community engagement methods you traditionally use may not be the best fit for your intended audience. As community organizers, we started with our bread and butter. We phone-banked and went door-to-door in voting neighborhoods, hoping to generate support from sympathetic residents dismayed by the news coming from the school board; however, we quickly learned that many people were unaware of what was going on. FixSUSD went back to the drawing board to rework our message. Understanding that most parents did not have the time to pore over the grand jury reports or attend school board meetings, we distilled the collection of issues down to a few, specific points with clear implications for student performance and well-being. The team then developed some quick-hitting flyers and social media posts, visited school ca... --- ## Storytelling strategies for policy change URL: https://www.bmsg.org/storytelling-strategies-for-policy-change/ Type: post Modified: 2025-09-19 Words: 700 > Heart racing. Hands trembling. The room was cold and still. All I could see were tiny dust particles catching the light. In that moment, I found myself face-to-face with the... Heart racing. Hands trembling. The room was cold and still. All I could see were tiny dust particles catching the light. In that moment, I found myself face-to-face with the elected leader I had voted for, supported, and believed in, now seated across from me in a quiet office on the sixth floor of California’s Capitol in Sacramento. Diana Guardado (second from right) and fellow ELLA cohort members with Assemblymember Anamarie Ávila Farías (D-15). But I wasn’t there to observe. I was there to advocate. Thanks to the skills I gained through the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley’s ELLA program, a 6-month program that trains Latinas on how to become effective policy advocates, particularly for issues impacting the Latinx community, I was able to shake off my nerves and speak up for equity in education. Through the program’s teachings, and my time at BMSG, I came prepared with values, a clear problem and solution, a personal story, and a deep understanding of my audience. I had just minutes to make my case for AB 1122, a bill that would require all California school districts to offer dual enrollment programs, giving high school students a chance to earn college credit and fast-track their future. Here’s how I made my story count and how you can do the same. Know your audience With any advocacy pitch, strategy matters. Before I walked into that room, I took time to learn everything I could about my Assemblymember — not just his voting record, but his values. I learned that he had served as a Board Trustee for De Anza College, a community college just minutes from where we both live. That connection wasn’t just convenient; it was powerful. It allowed me to open my testimony by saying: “As your neighbor, and as someone who also believes in the value of community colleges, I’m here today to talk about why dual enrollment changed my life.” That moment of connection grounded the conversation in shared values and mutual investment in our local community. Make it personal Through my media advocacy training at BMSG, I’ve learned how stories can bring urgency and clarity to complex policy issues. So I shared mine. A few months earlier, my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. As the oldest daughter in a Spanish-speaking household, I became one of his primary caregivers, navigating insurance denials, delays, and the broken systems that too often fail families like mine. Because I graduated from college a year early, I was able to be there for my father. Graduating early was only possible because my high school offered a dual enrollment program that allowed me to earn 15 college credits before I even set foot on campus at Menlo College. That head start saved me time and money, and gave me the flexibility to show up for my family when it mattered most. This wasn’t just an academic benefit; it was a life-changing support system. Link your story to systems change After grounding my testimony in my story, I connected it to the policy problem. Too many students, especially those from low-income, immigrant, or historically marginalized communities, are locked out of higher education because of financial burdens, systemic barriers, and the lack of preparatory programs. AB 1122 helps address this by making dual enrollment a statewide standard, not a lucky exception. I reminded my Assemblymember that this bill isn’t about charity, it’s about common sense. Investing in students early creates ripple effects: College access, economic stability, and the power to support our communities when crisis hits. I told him clearly: You have a chance to be a catalyst for that change. Final thoughts Advocacy can feel intimidating. But when you come with a values-based strategy, grounded research, and a story that bridges the personal with the political, people listen. Although the bill is still in progress, the economic and social stability it provides to students will hopefully influence legislators to support and pass this bill. Diana Guardado (second from right) and fellow ELLA cohort members with the District Representative for Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens (D-26). --- ## Changing public health narratives is possible with the right infrastructure: A conversation with social scientist Sarah Gollust URL: https://www.bmsg.org/changing-public-health-narratives-is-possible-with-the-right-infrastructure-a-conversation-with-social-scientist-sarah-gollust/ Type: post Modified: 2025-09-10 Words: 2417 > What makes some health policies feel controversial while others are embraced as common sense? It’s not the data — it’s the narrative. Strong public health narratives are why people today... What makes some health policies feel controversial while others are embraced as common sense? It’s not the data — it’s the narrative. Strong public health narratives are why people today overwhelmingly accept drunk-driving laws or tobacco regulations that keep airplanes, restaurants, and other common spaces smoke-free. But those policies — and the narratives surrounding them — were not always popular. It took decades of advocacy and coordinated efforts across institutions and sectors to shift people’s beliefs about health from one of personal choice to one of shared responsibility. Now, the freedom to travel safely and breathe clean air is the norm. We can similarly change the narrative around other public health issues like racial equity, health care access, and housing security by applying lessons from previous public health battles and working strategically to create strong coalitions across institutions, organizations, and media. This form of power is known as narrative infrastructure, and it’s the basis for a recent perspective by BMSG Director Lori Dorfman and co-authors Sarah Gollust, Makani Thema, Pritpal S. Tamber, and Anthony Iton. The perspective, published last month in Milbank Quarterly, discusses how tactics from community organizing can help shift the public’s values and beliefs to better support policies that improve health. To learn more about narrative power and why public health needs an infrastructure to build it, I sat down with Gollust, Professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Q&A Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity. Could you tell me a little bit about what you do, your background, and what brought you to this work? Sarah Gollust, co-director of the Collaborative on Media and Messaging for Health and Social Policy and Professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health The predominant role I have in research is as one of the co-directors of the Collaborative on Media and Messaging for Health and Social Policy, an interdisciplinary research group based at the University of Minnesota, Wesleyan University, and Cornell University, which seeks to do responsive communication research around health equity and social policy. That’s been a major part of my research over the last three years, although I’ve been researching the intersection of health communication and health policy for well over 15 years. My academic training is in health policy, but communication has long been a core interest of mine — specifically, understanding the role of communication in shaping health policy and politics. I’ve always been really interested in understanding how messages in the media shape the public’s attitudes about health policy, and, consequently, how the public’s opinion shapes political possibilities for systems and policy change. In my academic training, I’ve been really steeped in the fields of health policy and health communication, and the subfield of political communication within political science. I’m a relative newcomer to community organizing — that’s really where the ideas of narrative power that shaped this article come from. I recently became engaged in learning about community organizing as a field of practice when I started attending organizing trainings. I then started a partnership with Center for Health Progress, a community organizing nonprofit in Colorado, to do a community-based participatory research project with them. It was then, through my own education and training, and this research partnership, that I became much more open to the ideas from community organizing — particularly, how the ideas of power and narrative that stem from community organizing practice, rather than traditional academic health communication, can provide a really important complementary understanding of how communication shapes politics. The perspective emphasizes the importance of narrative power. Can you explain what that means in the context of public health? How is narrative power different from a strong message? Narrative power is the idea that those who hold sway over the stories we tell about how the world works hold power. For example, the idea that we’re personally responsible for our health or that we deserve health care when we work hard are the narratives that we call dominant narratives. Dominant narratives are a form of power because they shape what policies and politics are possible. As a concrete example, we know that in 2025, work requirements for Medicaid have been passed at the federal level. One of the reasons that the policy is politically possible and viewed as common sense is because of the widespread dominant narrative that links health care with hard work and deservingness. Without that narrative, it might not make sense to condition health insurance on work. This deep-seated narrative about what it means to be hardworking — and that when you’re hardworking, y... --- ## Changing the story on health and racial equity: Why public health needs an infrastructure for building narrative power URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/changing-the-story-on-health-and-racial-equity-why-public-health-needs-an-infrastructure-for-building-narrative-power/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-08-22 Words: 84 > As the field of public health strives to advance health and racial equity amid intense political pushback, we need more than better messaging: We need narrative power and infrastructure. In... As the field of public health strives to advance health and racial equity amid intense political pushback, we need more than better messaging: We need narrative power and infrastructure. In this commentary for Milbank Quarterly, BMSG Director Lori Dorfman and co-authors Sarah Gollust, Makani Themba, Pritpal S. Tamber, and Anthony Iton use real-world examples and lessons drawn from tobacco control and anti-racism advocacy to show how we can make health-promoting narratives, mindsets, and policies the norm. Access the full text --- ## Central California Public Health Consortium: Power-mapping, message development, and media training URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/central-california-public-health-consortium-power-mapping-message-development-and-media-training/ Type: events Modified: 2025-07-31 Words: 239 > As part of BMSG’s ongoing work to strengthen narrative power for racial and health equity, the Racial and Health Equity Strategy Team, led by Katherine Schaff and Diana Guardado, hosted... As part of BMSG’s ongoing work to strengthen narrative power for racial and health equity, the Racial and Health Equity Strategy Team, led by Katherine Schaff and Diana Guardado, hosted a training for the Central California Public Health Consortium focused on power-mapping and BMSG’s Layers of Strategy as a foundation for public health communications. Community organizers have long used power-mapping (or power analyses) to examine the power relationships that shape public health and to work toward social change. Actively working to shift power to those who have been most harmed by inequities can also provide a foundation for long-term narrative change and strategic communications work. In this training, participants learned how power-mapping can be integrated into everyday public health practice and used as a foundation for effective messaging and narrative change. Following the power-mapping training, BMSG trainers Rosaura Wardsworth and Jocelyn Polanco led a message development and spokesperson training to help participants develop their message delivery’ skills. Participants learned how to determine an Overall Strategy as a foundation for their message development. Through a series of hands-on activities, they learned how to craft effective messages that reflect the needs and goals of the communities they serve. They also had the opportunity to practice interviewing each other in small groups and learned about best practices they can utilize to handle difficult questions and stay on message during interviews and other challenging conversations. --- ## A review of select message guides for communicating about climate change and public health URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/making-the-case-select-message-guides-for-communicating-about-climate-change-and-public-health/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-06-16 Words: 80 > Want to effectively communicate the health-related challenges associated with climate change? This resource, supported by the California Department of Public Health, offers a curated list and summaries of existing message... Want to effectively communicate the health-related challenges associated with climate change? This resource, supported by the California Department of Public Health, offers a curated list and summaries of existing message guides that offer clear, research-backed strategies to help advocates, health practitioners, and policymakers craft compelling narratives that inspire action. Whether you need quick, ready-to-use messages or in-depth frameworks, these guides will equip you with the tools to make the case across diverse audiences. Download resource --- ## Making the case for Medicaid: 6 tips for speaking out URL: https://www.bmsg.org/making-the-case-for-medicaid-6-tips-for-speaking-out/ Type: post Modified: 2025-06-02 Words: 2126 > As we move ever closer to legislation that will significantly curtail the federal funds that flow to states, communities, and individuals for health and wellbeing, it’s vital that voices in... As we move ever closer to legislation that will significantly curtail the federal funds that flow to states, communities, and individuals for health and wellbeing, it’s vital that voices in the movement for health equity speak up consistently and effectively. Harmonized framing is one of our most powerful forms of resistance in this moment — especially if our collective voice hits the right notes. Framing can either undermine or reinforce our advocacy goals, and the way we frame issues now can constrain or expand what’s possible in the future. As two organizations that study and share effective framing (the FrameWorks Institute and Berkeley Media Studies Group), we’re writing these “notes for the choir” because we’ve seen well-intentioned framing that worries us. And we’ve noticed silences that concern us even more: respected allies and trusted friends missing the opportunity to make a difference because they’re experiencing analysis paralysis when it comes to messaging. In this post, penned as lawmakers consider legislation that would weaken Medicaid, SNAP, and the nation’s public health infrastructure, we’re taking the advice we often share with partners and peers: We’re joining forces, speaking up together, and naming what people can do right now. We’re asking you to consider frame effects as you decide what to say to protect Medicaid and other programs that serve the people you care about — and then get out there and say it, now. As you get to work, we hope you’ll keep these insights in mind: 1. You can mobilize without messaging. Words matter, but in certain circumstances, timing and volume matter even more. This is especially true in a hyper-partisan moment when members of Congress are tuning out carefully crafted messages that seem to come from the other side. One counterweight to partisan loyalty is public pressure. If you can mobilize a constituency to tell legislators they want Medicaid to be robust, do it now. You don’t need to revise the suggested script yet again. The clogged phone lines, the crowds at standing-room only town halls, and protest actions will be the message: The people, your voters, want to protect Medicaid, and they’re watching what you do. 2. Avoid charity framing. For those of us who know and care about the consequences of defunding Medicaid, it can be a natural impulse to look for ways to get others to care, too. Often, this shows up in messages that highlight the program’s service to a sympathetic group such as children, veterans, or the working poor. But highlighting participants’ worthiness or need is rhetorically vulnerable: It’s all too easy for opponents to conceptually separate “us” from “them,” claiming that people aren’t truly deserving and demanding that participants prove their worthiness. (Think work requirements, time limits, or penalties against states that allow undocumented people to enroll in Medicaid.) Plus: Do you truly believe that access to health care should be contingent on … anything? Do talk about the harm to come, but use strategic frames, like the ideas below. 3. Lead with shared values that evoke interconnection. For the same reasons that charity framing won’t work, hyper-emotional appeals to the “devastating” or even deadly effects of Medicaid restrictions can backfire. Crisis framing heightens fear, which can lead quickly to us-versus-them thinking. When you feel the urge to “get people to care,” back away from the doom-and-gloom and reach instead for the research-backed alternative: values-based messages that heighten the sense of shared fates and common cause. This message makeover might feel risky, but mounds of research and many years of practice show that framing with collective values increases support for sound health policies and programs. For Medicaid, the value of interconnection is a good bet, because so many people, are, in fact, connected to this program: Nationally, about 1 in 5 people in the U.S. rely on Medicaid, and 2 out of 3 people in the U.S. are closely connected to someone who has benefited from Medicaid at some point. It’s wildly popular. We can be confident that reminding people of this interconnection will resonate across the country and even across political affiliation. The sample messages below demonstrate how to pull back the lens from individual harms the cuts will bring to show how Medicaid connects whole communities. Leading with values also helps us demonstrate the care and concern that help us be seen as trustworthy messengers. This approach works because it’s authentic. When we ask our partners why they get out of bed in the morning to do their work, they talk about unity, interconnection, community, love, justice, and liberation. These deeply held beliefs motivate our daily efforts. Expressing them is key to reaching audiences who have stopped listening to anything that sounds like politics as usual. 4. Show the program in its broader landscape. It’s vital to go beyond the immediate or obvious impacts of losing... --- ## The ‘spiral of silence’ makes us think we’re more divided than we are. Here’s how to break it. URL: https://www.bmsg.org/the-spiral-of-silence-makes-us-think-were-more-divided-than-we-are-heres-how-to-break-it/ Type: post Modified: 2025-05-22 Words: 1437 > You wouldn’t know it from news coverage, but U.S. residents are more united on many issues than we realize — even seemingly controversial ones. For example, recent research found that... You wouldn’t know it from news coverage, but U.S. residents are more united on many issues than we realize — even seemingly controversial ones. For example, recent research found that more than 80% of us support diversity, equity, and inclusion, and want to help end divisiveness. However, we mistakenly believe that only 55% of people agree with us. This stark mismatch between perception and reality can stifle conversations and stall action as people worry they might be alone in their point of view. This phenomenon, called the ‘spiral of silence,’ exists across other issues, too, and recently has garnered renewed media attention. The spiral of silence reminds us that speaking out matters. If more of us are vocal about supporting health care access, Social Security, climate resilience, and other solutions to the major problems we face, we can help spark action. Data reveal, for example, that Medicaid, which is facing steep cuts, is widely popular across the political spectrum. And recent polling shows that a majority of people in the United States oppose DOGE and the Trump administration’s unprecedented cuts to the federal workforce. This only reinforces the importance of breaking the spiral of silence so people know that many, many others agree with them. In this moment, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume and cruelty of the attacks on health, equity, justice, and our communities. Some of us, understandably, may not feel safe speaking up. Fortunately, we already have many of the necessary tools and resources to meet this moment. Below are five tips, adapted from a recent webinar and BMSG’s many years of supporting people on the ground, for breaking through the spiral of silence and communicating effectively about public health. 1. Make the landscape visible Our brains are wired to love stories. Research shows that engaging stories can cause the brain to release oxytocin, a hormone linked to empathy, trust, and emotional connection. But there’s a caveat to telling stories. Many stories in the media are framed as portraits: stories about an individual and their experience. Even heartwarming stories about people overcoming great odds can make it harder to explain why public health approaches to common challenges are necessary, because in public health, we don’t want to help people beat the odds; we want to change the odds so everyone lives in conditions that foster health. If people only see portrait stories that reinforce personal responsibility in the news or popular culture, they may be inclined to believe that the only solution is to just try harder: Work more jobs to afford housing, for example, find a job with better health insurance, or choose healthier foods. When communicating about public health, our job is to expand from a portrait story to the broader landscape, highlighting the systems and decision-makers that can improve conditions so everyone can thrive. Doing so can help show that the problems we face are systemic, foster a sense of shared responsibility, and justify solutions beyond individual behavior change. If we tell a portrait-level story and present a systemic solution, there’s a disconnect. We must connect portraits to the landscape to help people understand the root causes of the challenges we’re seeing today. 2. Lead with values Though data and evidence inform the public health policies and practices that we hope to achieve, data alone lacks the persuasive power needed to create an effective message. Further, leading with a challenge or problem can contribute to a sense of overwhelm or despair. When we lead with values, we open people’s hearts so that their heads can take in what we’re going to say next. Studies show that, especially when we’re busy, we tend to rely on the reactive part of our brain. When we speak with values, we can move people to their slower, cognitive brain, where they’re more open to hearing new points of view. You might lead with community interconnection, liberty, unity, a can-do spirit, fairness, democracy or whatever value motivates you to do the work. However, values are not one size fits all — be sure to remember your audience and uplift the values you share with the people you’re hoping to reach. 3. Name actions and solutions If people don’t see a way to take action and be part of the solution, they’re more likely to tune us out. When we uplift stories about solutions, people are more likely to stay engaged and feel motivated to act. It’s also critical to clarify our solution. If we don’t know what we want to do, we can’t figure out what we want to say. For example, let’s say you’re trying to reach people who need assistance but are afraid to access services due to their immigration status. In this case, one solution may be to encourage the board of supervisors to make your county a sanctuary county or urge state legislators to enact protections for immigrants accessing health care. Both are important, but lead to different messages. Once you’... --- ## Coming together to speak up for Medicaid and Medi-Cal: Answers to tough questions URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/coming-together-to-speak-up-for-medicaid-and-medi-cal-answers-to-tough-questions/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-05-23 Words: 2757 > Introduction Federal legislators are moving swiftly to pass a bill that would cut over $625 billion from Medicaid, the country’s public, state, and federally funded health insurance program for low-income... Introduction Federal legislators are moving swiftly to pass a bill that would cut over $625 billion from Medicaid, the country’s public, state, and federally funded health insurance program for low-income people. If passed, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that 10.3 million people will lose their access to Medicaid nationwide by 2034. Across the country, people are raising their voices to demand that their representatives save this vital program. Medicaid, including California’s version known as Medi-Cal, is widely used and immensely popular. Millions of families, veterans, workers, and health care providers rely on the program for primary care visits, medications, mental health care, prenatal care and births, emergency services, and other vital services that keep them healthy. By providing medical care and other supports, Medicaid keeps our communities going by keeping kids in classrooms, roofs over people’s heads, and food on the table. Lawmakers in Congress want to cut the program to fund tax breaks for billionaires. The cuts to Medicaid and Medi-Cal would have drastic impacts on the health and well-being of our communities. Across the country, people are raising their voices to demand that their representatives save this vital program. In doing so, especially in speaking to the media, they may get some tough questions. This resource provides sample responses to hard questions. While the responses focus on California’s Medi-Cal, many answers will apply in states across the country. Use the suggested answers as is, or tailor them to address the specific programs and/or needs of your community. See the “Tips for Developing Effective Messages” section at the end for general guidance on how to structure your answers. Answers to hard questions about: We know people are paying attention to Medicaid, and for good reason: The stakes are high, and the decisions being made right now will impact millions. With information moving faster than most people can track, it’s more important than ever to speak clearly about a program that upholds public health. Below are examples of how to talk about Medicaid using strong, values-based communication principles.The responses below are structured using BMSG’s message development framework to ensure that each response is values-driven, solution-oriented, and applies a systemic lens to emphasize the context for the cuts. Budgets and fiscal responsibility Q: What would you say to taxpayers who are worried about the growing share of the state’s budget going to Medi-Cal? A: We, as Californians, pride ourselves on looking out for one another. We don’t walk away from people when they’re sick or struggling. That’s not just compassion — it’s common sense. Medi-Cal is how the state delivers care to more than 15 million residents, including children, older adults, veterans, and working families. That share of the budget is growing because of exorbitant drug prices and because more people are living longer and managing complex health needs. Medi-Cal prevents more serious health problems by providing access to primary and preventive care. By catching illnesses early and helping people manage chronic conditions, Medi-Cal reduces unnecessary hospitalizations, which saves money and lives. We are proud of these investments because they reflect how we live our lives as Californians and that fairness, dignity, and shared responsibility matter to us. Ultimately, the real challenge isn’t how much we spend — it’s how we spend it. We should be expanding access, not cutting care. At the end of the day, ensuring that everyone can get health care when they need it is just common sense; it keeps people out of emergency rooms, increases access to preventive and lifesaving care, and remains one of the most efficient ways to save lives. States rolling back inclusion for undocumented immigrants Q: Why should California taxpayers fund health care for undocumented immigrants when legal residents still struggle to get timely care? A: Let’s be clear: Immigrants are our neighbors, coworkers, and community leaders. That’s why a strong majority of Californians support including them in coverage. We understand that health care is a basic need — something everyone deserves, regardless of their background. That’s just common sense. Right now, we’re having this conversation because common sense is under attack to give tax breaks to billionaires. Yet we know Californians want smarter, more compassionate policies that reflect our shared values. Medi-Cal not only protects individual health — it protects public health. All in all, ensuring that everyone, including people who have had the courage to migrate here to seek better lives for themselves and their families, have access to Medi-Cal keeps people out of emergency rooms, increases access to preventive and lifesaving care, and remains one of the most efficient ways to save lives. Q: If we did not spend our budget on health care for undocumented immigrants, w... --- ## People, Parks, and Power: Desarrollando el poder narrativo hacia la equidad de parques y espacios verdes URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/people-parks-and-power-desarrollando-el-poder-narrativo-hacia-la-equidad-de-parques-y-espacios-verdes/ Type: events Modified: 2025-06-11 Words: 414 > Jueves, 1 de mayo | 11:30am - 1pm pacifico “Respira profundamente e imagina: Espacio al aire libre que pertenece a todos, donde toda la gente–sin importar su raza o ingreso–puede... Jueves, 1 de mayo | 11:30am – 1pm pacifico “Respira profundamente e imagina: Espacio al aire libre que pertenece a todos, donde toda la gente–sin importar su raza o ingreso–puede respirar libremente y sin riesgo. Comunidades a nivel nacional están trabajando para lograr esa visión, desarrollando su poder para literalmente transformar el panorama y asegurar que la distribución de parques y espacios verdes sea equitativo, haya estructuras en orden para que puedan permanecer así, y miembros comunitarios sean quienes dirigen este trabajo.” “Changing the story about park and green space equity: A messaging guide for advocates,” Berkeley Media Studies Group Por favor acompáñenos en un diálogo centrado en desarrollar el poder narrativo hacia la equidad de parques y espacios verdes. People, Parks, and Power (P3) es la primera iniciativa de financiamiento nacional en los E.E.U.U. para apoyar el desarrollo del poder comunitario por organizaciones comunitarios para revertir inequidades arraigadas de parques y espacios verdes en comunidades negras, latines, e indígenas en todo el país. Actualmente en su segunda fase, P3 continua a proveer apoyo fiscal y estratégico a seis organizaciones comunitarias en su trabajo a largo plazo para avanzar la equidad de parques a través de política local y cambio sistémico. Como parte de la iniciativa People, Parks, and Power (P3), Prevention Institute y Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) produjeron una guia de mensajería que describe cómo los narrativos pueden ayudar a ampliar la equidad de parques y espacios verdes en comunidades locales, e incluye marcos, lenguaje, y herramientas de comunicación para abogar por los parques y espacios verdes como fuentes de la salud, alegria, y liberacion comunitaria. Nos acompañarán South Bronx Unite y The Conscious Connect CDC para aprender más sobre cómo han trabajado para desarrollar el poder narrativo hacia la equidad de parques y espacios verdes, creado mensajería eficaz, y creado una comunidad con otros defensores a nivel nacional. South Bronx Unite une a residentes del vecindario, organizaciones comunitarias, instituciones académicas, y aliados para mejorar y proteger el futuro social, medioambiental, y económico de Mott Haven y Port Morris. The Conscious Connect CDC reimagina y reurbaniza espacios subutilizados para los propósitos de la educación, cultura, paz, y salud–para que el éxito no se define por códigos postales. Para unirse a esta sesión, favor de registrarse aquí. Los invitamos a compartir esta información con colegas y otros defensores comunitarios que estén interesados. P3 es dirigido por Prevention Institute y apoyado con financiamiento de Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. --- ## People, Parks, and Power: Building narrative power for park and green space equity URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/people-parks-and-power-building-narrative-power-for-park-and-green-space-equity/ Type: events Modified: 2025-06-11 Words: 395 > Thursday, May 1 | 11:30am – 1pm PT "Take a deep breath, and imagine: outdoor space that belongs to everyone, where all people — no matter their race or income... Thursday, May 1 | 11:30am – 1pm PT “Take a deep breath, and imagine: outdoor space that belongs to everyone, where all people — no matter their race or income — can breathe freely and safely. Communities across the country are working toward that vision, building their power to literally transform the landscape and ensure that the distribution of parks and green space is equitable, that structures are in place so they remain so, and that community members are the ones leading this work.” “Changing the story about park and green space equity: A messaging guide for advocates,” Berkeley Media Studies Group Please join us for an upcoming dialogue centered on building narrative power for park and green space equity. People, Parks, and Power (P3) is the first national funding initiative in the U.S. to support power building by community-based organizations to reverse deep-seated park and green space inequities in Black, Latine, and Indigenous communities across the country. Currently in its second grant cycle, P3 continues to provide fiscal and strategic support to six community-based organizations in their long-term work to advance park equity through local policy and systems change. As part of the People, Parks, and Power (P3) initiative, Prevention Institute and Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) developed a messaging guide that describes how narratives can help bring park and green space equity to scale in local communities, and includes frames, language, and communication tools to advocate for parks and green space as a source of community health, joy, and liberation. We will be joined by South Bronx Unite and The Conscious Connect CDC to learn more about how they have worked to build narrative power for park and green space equity, crafted effective messaging, and built community with other advocates nationwide. South Bronx Unite brings together neighborhood residents, community organizations, academic institutions, and allies to improve and protect the social, environmental, and economic future of Mott Haven and Port Morris. The Conscious Connect CDC reimagines and redevelops underutilized spaces for the purposes of education, culture, peace, and health — so that success is not defined by zip codes. To join the session, please register here. We invite you to share this information with colleagues and fellow community champions who may be interested. P3 is led and managed by Prevention Institute and supported by funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. --- ## No magic words: Building narrative power URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/no-magic-words-building-narrative-power/ Type: events Modified: 2025-05-08 Words: 117 > Speaking at a recent town hall for the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science (IAPHS), BMSG Director Lori Dorfman discussed building narrative power to break the 'spiral of silence' —... Speaking at a recent town hall for the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science (IAPHS), BMSG Director Lori Dorfman discussed building narrative power to break the ‘spiral of silence’ — a theory that says people are reluctant to voice an opinion if they feel they’re the only ones who hold it. Speaking up matters because it can help others be less fearful to do so, too. Dorfman explained that to build narrative power, organizations need infrastructure and an overall strategy that guides their messaging strategy. Finally, she shared specific strategies for building narrative power, including leading with values and making the landscape visible (rather than relying on storytelling about individuals or isolated events). --- ## our staff URL: https://www.bmsg.org/about-us/our-staff/ Type: page Modified: 2026-06-05 Words: 2 > --- ## Building narrative power for health: Strategies and tools for this moment URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/building-narrative-power-for-health-strategies-and-tools-for-this-moment/ Type: events Modified: 2025-04-18 Words: 10459 > In a rapidly changing public health landscape, advancing health and well-being for all — especially those most harmed by our current systems — requires strong narrative and communication strategies. While... In a rapidly changing public health landscape, advancing health and well-being for all — especially those most harmed by our current systems — requires strong narrative and communication strategies. While this work can feel daunting, practical tools and resources exist to help public health practitioners articulate why public health matters and how we can create thriving communities. In a recent webinar, Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) shared strategies to strengthen narrative power, including how to assess power dynamics and craft compelling, values-driven messages that inspire action. After viewing this webinar, participants will be able to: Identify key components of an effective message strategy that motivates action and emphasizes values. Describe public health in clear, accessible language. Explore how to conduct a power analysis to uncover unequal power relationships and identify effective pathways toward building narrative power. Explain why an overall strategy is the foundation for all communication planning. This Web Forum was sponsored by PHI Center for Health Leadership & Impact and produced by Dialogue4Health. Resources: Download slides BMSG resources for public health practitioners Webinar transcript: Murlean Tucker: Welcome to Building Narrative Power for Health: Strategies and Tools For This Moment. My name is Murlean Tucker, and I’ll be running today’s web forum along with my colleague, Jeff Bornstein. Today’s web forum is sponsored by PHI Center for Health Leadership and Impact and produced by Dialogue for Health. Now let’s meet the moderator of today’s event. Dr. Carmen Nevarez. Carmen is a senior advisor at PHI Center for Health Leadership and Impact, founder of Dialogue for Health and Senior Vice President Emeritus of External Relations and Preventive Medicine at Public Health Institute. Welcome Carmen. Carmen Nevarez: Good morning, everyone, and thanks for the introduction. I’m really excited about today’s webinar, and really, really happy to welcome all of you. We have over 900 people registered. So it’s tremendous interest in this topic. Before we get there, I want to just give you a little bit of background on who the Center for Health Leadership and Impact is and why we’re bringing you this really important, really critically timed webinar today. So CHLI is a public health ‘do tank’ that helps individuals and teams to transform their vision into data-driven strategies by cultivating leadership, catalyzing learning networks, and strengthening cross-sector partnerships. We help to create equitable lasting impact in communities. Since 91, almost 8,000 leaders in 53 states and territories have applied our tools and processes to address a wide range of issues, including overdose prevention. Let’s have the next slide. CHLI works with individuals, with teams and with organizations across sectors to build healthy communities, including health departments, government agencies, education, academia, nonprofit organizations, healthcare systems and community-based organizations. Next slide. Our learning objectives today. Let’s just go over really quickly. We’ve got an excellent presentation lined up for you today, entitled Building Narrative Power for Health: Strategies and Tools For This Moment. By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to: Identify key components of an effective message strategy that motivates action and emphasizes values; describe public health in clear, accessible language; explore how to conduct a power analysis, to uncover unequal power relationships and identify effective pathways toward building narrative power; and explain why an overall strategy is the foundation for all communication planning. So Kathi Schaff joined Berkeley Media Studies group to help build the organizational communications capacity of local health departments, government agencies and community-based organizations working to advance racial and health equity. Prior to joining the BMSG team, she spent 11 years at Alameda County Public Health Department, where she helped to foster racial and social and health equity throughout through policy change, community partnerships, and building institutional and staff capacity within the Health Department and the county. Before moving to the Bay Area, Kathi supported local health departments through her position at the National Association of County and City Health Officials in Washington, DC. She received her BA in sociology and international Studies from University of Denver and her Master’s of Public Health and Doctor of Public Health from University of California in Berkeley. Her doctoral research focused on how local health departments addressed and communicated about the foreclosure crisis as a driver of health inequities. So let me welcome Katherine Schaff to the podium. 00:09:26.500 Katherine Schaff: Hi, everyone. I’m very grateful to be here, and I just wanted to start in thinking about the narratives we tell ourselves in public health.... --- ## People, Parks, and Power (P3): Parks and Green Space Equity Yellow Book Workshop URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/people-parks-and-power-p3-parks-and-green-space-equity-yellow-book-workshop/ Type: events Modified: 2025-03-14 Words: 116 > BMSG trainers Rosaura Wardsworth and Jocelyn Polanco delivered an introductory workshop on our Parks and green space equity Yellow Book featuring the Peoples, Parks, and Power (P3) initiative. The Yellow... BMSG trainers Rosaura Wardsworth and Jocelyn Polanco delivered an introductory workshop on our Parks and green space equity Yellow Book featuring the Peoples, Parks, and Power (P3) initiative. The Yellow Book was designed through a process of deep listening sessions and contributions from the P3 local partners. It features their work through the lens of our core BMSG concepts such as overall strategy, message strategy, media strategy and much more. This workshop not only celebrated the work of P3 local partners, but also offered a deep dive into key parts of the Yellow Book. Advocates walked away with a new way to enhance their messages and an 83 page resource filled with innovative strategies and guidance. --- ## American Public Health Association Webinar: The Power of Telling Your Story and Strategic Framing in Advocacy URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/american-public-health-association-webinar-the-power-of-telling-your-story-and-strategic-framing-in-advocacy/ Type: events Modified: 2025-03-12 Words: 146 > BMSG’s Katherine Schaff, Health Equity Coordinator, joined Kim Nguyen, Program Director at Statler Nagle, for an engaging APHA webinar on the power of storytelling and strategic framing in advocacy. The... BMSG’s Katherine Schaff, Health Equity Coordinator, joined Kim Nguyen, Program Director at Statler Nagle, for an engaging APHA webinar on the power of storytelling and strategic framing in advocacy. The session provided participants with practical frameworks and tools to craft narratives that inspire action and advance equity in public health and beyond. BMSG guided participants through a series of exercises on developing strategic storytelling techniques to align narratives with advocacy goals, implementing equity-focused narrative change approaches to ensure that inclusion and justice remain central in public health communication, and how we can shift from individual portrait-focused stories to broader landscape narratives that highlight systemic issues and population-level solutions. By equipping attendees with these storytelling and framing tools, this session helped advocates enhance their ability to communicate effectively and mobilize support for change. A replay of the webinar can be found here. --- ## Media advocacy for farm safety and health: current landscape and future directions URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/media-advocacy-for-farm-safety-and-health-current-landscape-and-future-directions/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-03-28 Words: 401 > How are farm and tractor safety portrayed in the news? Do solutions appear? Who has a voice in coverage? These are some of the questions that BMSG researchers examined in... How are farm and tractor safety portrayed in the news? Do solutions appear? Who has a voice in coverage? These are some of the questions that BMSG researchers examined in this study, published in BMC Public Health. The study also provides suggestions for occupational health and safety practitioners who hope to improve their use of media to advance farm safety agendas. Abstract Background Within public health, media advocacy embraces the influence of new media and journalists in setting public agendas and promoting important public health programming and policies. Though occupational health and safety (OSH) is an important component of public health, few studies have examined the use of media advocacy within this specific field. This study aims to examine how media is currently used to support OSH efforts as well as opportunities for engaging with this strategy. Methods LexisNexis and AgInjuryNews were used to collect news media pertaining to farm safety, and specifically tractor safety, published between 2018 and 2021 in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. A total of 372 news articles were identified. Content analysis was used to assess a random sample of these articles (n = 122) to answer the questions: Why are stories about farm and tractor safety in the news? Who speaks in the news about farm and tractor safety? How are farming, farmers, and farm safety depicted in the news? Who is named as responsible for and called upon to take action to address farm and tractor safety issues? What solutions to address farm and tractor safety are mentioned? Results In general, relevant news stories (n = 89) were published as a result of event (such as tractor overturns or safety days). Many stories placed responsibility for both farm injury events and the need to increase safety measures solely on farmers, demonstrating a missed opportunity for understanding how farm safety is impacted by the larger societal context, like legislation and government programs. Conclusions Using these findings, the authors provide several suggestions for OSH practitioners who hope to improve their use of media to advance farm safety agendas. Citation Milkovich, P.J., Perez-Sanz, S., Garcia, K. et al. Media advocacy for farm safety and health: current landscape and future directions. BMC Public Health 25, 970 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-22162-z Full text This article was published March 11, 2025 in BMC Public Health. View the study Download PDF version --- ## UC Berkeley School of Public Health: News coverage of racism as a public health crisis URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/uc-berkeley-school-of-public-health-news-coverage-of-racism-as-a-public-health-crisis/ Type: events Modified: 2025-04-02 Words: 252 > Berkeley Media Studies Group Director Lori Dorfman and Media Researcher, Hina Mahmood presented research findings on BMSG’s study of news coverage of racism as a public health crisis in a... Berkeley Media Studies Group Director Lori Dorfman and Media Researcher, Hina Mahmood presented research findings on BMSG’s study of news coverage of racism as a public health crisis in a webinar for the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. The research, conducted in partnership with The Praxis Project, examined the news to see whether the coverage of the declarations emphasized remedies to the long-standing health consequences of racism. From a national sample of news coverage between 2019 to 2021, we found a notable increase in news coverage during the summer of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, but coverage dropped after the month of June. One key finding was that government representatives appeared in almost every article about the declarations, while community voices were nearly absent from the coverage. To help the public and policy makers understand the public health crisis of racism, those proposing new declarations should engage with communities working to eliminate structural racism and together make concerted efforts to generate news coverage, without relying on acts of violence against Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. View the full webinar below: Related resources Equity in action: Assessing the role of community in declarations of racism as a public health crisis report “We Have to Move Quickly to Cement This Willingness for Change”: News Narratives About Declarations of Racism as a Public Health Crisis, 2019–2021 From words to action: Can local policies and declarations address racism as a public health issue? --- ## Prevention Institute Intersections Initiative 2.0: Advancing equitable policies – Introduction to media advocacy URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/prevention-institute-intersections-initiative-2-0-advancing-equitable-policies-introduction-to-media-advocacy/ Type: events Modified: 2025-02-27 Words: 116 > BMSG trainers Rosaura Wardsworth and Jocelyn Polanco traveled to Renton, Washington to provide an introductory session on media advocacy to members of the Prevention Institute’s Intersections Initiatives 2.0. The Intersections... BMSG trainers Rosaura Wardsworth and Jocelyn Polanco traveled to Renton, Washington to provide an introductory session on media advocacy to members of the Prevention Institute’s Intersections Initiatives 2.0. The Intersections Initiative supports community-based organizations and coalitions in exploring the roles community partners can play in upstream prevention. BMSG supported the coalition in developing their strategic goals and practicing how they communicate as a coalition. BMSG led community partners through a series of exercises to learn about developing an overall strategy and the components of an effective message. With these tools the coalition is one step further in developing their shared vision for their community. --- ## Coping with chaos: What’s keeping us going in this political moment URL: https://www.bmsg.org/coping-with-chaos-whats-keeping-us-going-in-this-political-moment/ Type: post Modified: 2025-05-27 Words: 2096 > As the policies and upheavals of this administration bring fear, uncertainty, and pain to our communities, BMSG staff are processing and grieving this moment alongside all of you, dear readers. ... As the policies and upheavals of this administration bring fear, uncertainty, and pain to our communities, BMSG staff are processing and grieving this moment alongside all of you, dear readers. Many of us are bouncing back and forth between calling our legislators and binging garbage TV with a pint of ice cream in our hands. Each day brings new headlines that appear to be ripped from a dystopian novel and, with them, a flood of emotions from sadness to anger and everything in between. Yet, among the many complex feelings we’re processing right now, one is chief among them: resolve. Right now, public health advocates, researchers, community health workers, journalists, and so many others are working tirelessly to preserve our institutions and protect people from harm. Despite the growing challenges we face, BMSG is dedicated to doing our part to further public health, equity, and justice by supporting strategic communication that uplifts our values and helps people visualize what is still possible. But we know we can’t do that without a deep commitment to community- and self-care. After all, exhaustion and overwhelm don’t serve ourselves or the causes we care about. Amid the unrest, we have found solace in each other, in small and simple joys each day, in our communities, and in the resilience we’ve cultivated. Our small but mighty team is multi-racial, intergenerational, from all across the country, and we bring forth a diversity of perspectives and experiences that inform how we’re coping. In the spirit of solidarity, progress, and resilience, we’re sharing what’s been keeping us going, and how we’re moving forward. Take the lessons and strategies that resonate, and leave the ones that don’t. Connect with nature — and your body Ooof. Their “create chaos” strategy is working on me: the relentless lies, the battering of human rights, and the profound disrespect for all of us and our government makes me want to retreat under the covers. Just one month in, it’s hard to stay focused even when I remind myself that everything we work on at BMSG is crucial to this moment. And that’s what keeps me going. My passionate coworkers, our brilliant partners in the work, the voices that are surfacing to counter the blatant misogyny and racism — calls to Congress going from 40 to 1600 per MINUTE — all bring me back to focus on the work. Music and drawing bring me back into my body. After the election I dusted off The Highwomen and now have Crowded Table on repeat in my head. Walking in the neighborhood and pulling weeds in the backyard helps. So does losing myself in another part of my brain drawing for a few minutes or a few hours. Mostly, though, it’s the resolve I see building in all my communities that we, too, will be relentless. -Lori DorfmanDirector Only tackle one thing at a time I’d never wish cancer on anyone, but my 2023 breast cancer diagnosis (I’m still in treatment but doing well!) has made my reaction to the political moment of 2025 feel very different from 2017. When I was first diagnosed, I skipped fight, flight, or freeze and went straight to fix — trying to do everything at once. It wasn’t sustainable. With time and support, I learned that doing everything meant focusing on nothing. Instead, I had to get clear on my goal — being cancer-free — and prioritize what mattered most each week, day, and hour. I also learned I could handle things that once felt impossible, as long as I took that first step and stayed focused. That’s the mindset I’m bringing now. Yes, things feel hard. I’m trying to think beyond the next four years — to the world we want to build — and focusing on what I can do to help create it. Then, it’s rolling up my sleeves and getting to work. And, just like with cancer, community is everything. We keep each other going, take care of each other, and live in ways that reflect our values. That’s how we move forward — together. -Katherine SchaffDirector of Racial and Health Equity Strategy Remember your why As a government major, a studier of human interaction, and constant observer of cause and effect, the recent political and societal upheaval has left me overwhelmed, exhausted, and grappling with uncertainty. As with any new administration and change in power at any level, my first question is, “What does this mean for my kids?” And not just my children, but all children. Adults are in a privileged position of being able to frame current events with context, understanding what came before and what the big-picture implications are; for good reason, kids don’t have this perspective. My focus is to understand the world in a way that allows me to productively explain it to my kids. We encourage them to be advocates, teach them to be the helpers and not those who cause hurt, remind them that we do good even when nobody is there to see it, and we give voices to those who are too weak or too afraid to speak. -Rachel ShewmakerProgram Administrator Accept every emotion, even the negative ones It’s ti... --- ## What advocates and journalists can learn from news narratives about declarations of racism as a public health crisis URL: https://www.bmsg.org/what-advocates-and-journalists-can-learn-from-news-narratives-about-declarations-of-racism-as-a-public-health-crisis/ Type: post Modified: 2025-01-29 Words: 1291 > In 2020, amid a global pandemic and a national reckoning with deeply rooted racism and white supremacy, folks increasingly came to acknowledge racism for what it is — an existential... In 2020, amid a global pandemic and a national reckoning with deeply rooted racism and white supremacy, folks increasingly came to acknowledge racism for what it is — an existential threat to public health. In response, more and more communities began to make formal declarations that racism is a public health crisis. To better understand the narratives that emerged — and implications for people communicating about public health — researchers at BMSG and The Praxis Project analyzed news coverage of the declarations in a first-of-its-kind study, published in the journal Health Equity. The study, “‘We Have to Move Quickly to Cement this Willingness for Change’: News Narratives About Declarations of Racism as a Public Health Crisis, 2019-2021,” examines print media spanning July 2019 to December 2021. The study found that news coverage that discussed how structural racism harms health did so mostly as a response to Black Lives Matter protests, recent acts of police violence, and COVID-19 — focusing on key issues of the moment, but largely failing to address deeply rooted historical and ongoing inequities. Further, the study found that, though the declarations were intended to engage community members in combating racism and its impacts on public health, that intention didn’t show up very much in news coverage, and community voices were largely absent. The study authors offer recommendations to work toward these goals, including sharing best practices for communicating about declarations of racism as a public health crisis, and building capacity for narrative change and media advocacy. In the future, we hope to see deeper coverage of the declarations that examines not only their contents, but who played a role — or ought to play a role — in forming or implementing them. We hope to see more community voices featured, more historical context uplifted, and more concrete examples of how marginalized communities are impacted by racism. To learn more about the study and possibilities for future research, we sat down with its lead author, BMSG Media Researcher Hina Mahmood. Q&A What inspired this research on news narratives about declarations of racism as a public health crisis? As we all remember, in the summer of 2020 there was a lot of anger around the murders of people like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and more people than ever really started to pay attention to racial injustices and health inequities, sparking the Black Lives Matter movement. One way that showed up was in communities making formal statements about racism as a public health crisis; some communities had been trying to do this for years, and then suddenly in the summer of 2020 we saw this huge surge in policies being passed. At BMSG one of the things we’re always curious about is understanding how media reflect — and affect! — what’s happening in the world. We were interested in understanding how journalists were suddenly talking about these policies, especially when we found that there was hardly any coverage of racism as a public health crisis in the year before June of 2020. And then we saw this sudden explosion, with over 800 articles mentioning declarations in just that month alone! We felt that having a better understanding of the media narrative might give a window into understanding how people were talking and thinking about these policies — and what information they were missing. For instance, we wanted to know whether stories about the declarations were in the news because of health inequities highlighted by COVID-19, or whether police violence made this issue so visible. We also knew that many communities had been pushing for these declarations for a long time — and had been instrumental in getting them passed — and we wanted to know if that kind of community organizing and power building was showing up in the news. The scope of the study was limited to print. Is that representative of the broader media landscape? That’s a great point, and definitely something we often grapple with in our projects at BMSG. Print media is still a really important window into the narrative because it often sets the agenda for TV news and, as we’ve seen in other studies, print news stories are often what’s being shared and amplified on social media. We also selected a sample that included both local and national outlets from all over the United States; that diversity of news outlets and regions does, I think, give us a really nuanced and multifaceted understanding of the public conversation that was happening at that time. Did anything surprise you about the findings of this research? What reactions did you have? I was surprised to see so little coverage discussing concrete actions for implementing declarations. Less than half the articles addressed that. We have to name concrete actions if we want accountability — if we want to make sure that government leaders follow through on the promises they make. It’s one thing to create a policy; it’s another to e... --- ## ‘We have to move quickly to cement this willingness for change’: News narratives about declarations of racism as a public health crisis, 2019–2021 URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/we-have-to-move-quickly-to-cement-this-willingness-for-change-news-narratives-about-declarations-of-racism-as-a-public-health-crisis-2019-2021/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-03-28 Words: 340 > In the summer of 2020, global social movements in response to the police murders of George Floyd Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and countless others brought renewed public attention to racial... In the summer of 2020, global social movements in response to the police murders of George Floyd Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and countless others brought renewed public attention to racial injustice and health inequities. Against this backdrop, several jurisdictions formally declared racism to be a public health crisis. In this study, we explored narratives surrounding those declarations to see how they were framed in news coverage. The article includes implications for advocates and others working to advance health equity. Abstract Objective To understand how declarations of racism as a public health crisis were portrayed in the news from 2019 to 2021. Methods We assessed a national sample of articles (n = 127) to see how declarations of racism as a public health crisis were characterized in the news. Results Coverage skyrocketed in June 2020 with 800 articles in that month alone, many of which mentioned systemic or structural racism (43% of articles). Government speakers were quoted in 90% of articles while community voices only appeared in 24% of articles. Discussion Narratives that center the causes of structural and systemic racism can help inform the public about the health harms of racism and can also report on solutions to achieve health and racial equity that could influence policymakers and the public. Health equity implications Those proposing new declarations should make concerted efforts to ensure that these declarations generate news coverage, without relying on acts of violence against Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. Public health practitioners, advocates, and officials should center communities most impacted and help them in creating a system that addresses racial and health inequities. Citation Mahmood H, Mejia P, Schaff K, Labiran C, Morales X, Dorfman L (2025). “We have to move Quickly to cement this willingness for change”: News narratives about declarations of racism as a public health crisis, 2019–2021, Health Equity 9:1, 1–7, DOI: 10.1089/heq.2023.0276. Full text This journal article was published online January 8, 2025 in Health Equity. View the study Download PDF version --- ## Prevention Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis: Strategic communication to advance racial and health equity URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/prevention-research-center-at-washington-university-in-st-louis-strategic-communication-to-advance-racial-and-health-equity/ Type: events Modified: 2025-01-03 Words: 101 > Berkeley Media Studies Group trainers Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Rosaura Wardsworth delivered a virtual foundational media advocacy training session for a group of community health coalitions working with their local... Berkeley Media Studies Group trainers Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Rosaura Wardsworth delivered a virtual foundational media advocacy training session for a group of community health coalitions working with their local communities in the Midwest, South and Southeast with a focus on nutrition and physical activity environments. This 1.5-hour virtual training introduced participants to foundational media advocacy concepts and helped participants to clarify their advocacy and communications goals, develop key messages, and identify next steps in their strategy. Following the training, BMSG provided technical assistance to support the coalitions through the individual challenges they were coming across in their work. --- ## UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health: Communicating effectively about reproductive health URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/ucsf-bixby-center-for-global-reproductive-health-communicating-effectively-about-reproductive-health/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-23 Words: 49 > BMSG trainer Jocelyn Polanco led a cohort of Bixby Media and Advocacy fellows through a strategic communication and media advocacy training. The fellows participated in a series of message development... BMSG trainer Jocelyn Polanco led a cohort of Bixby Media and Advocacy fellows through a strategic communication and media advocacy training. The fellows participated in a series of message development activities to help them translate their research and their current work into effective messages to reach their target audiences. --- ## Top 10 public health and social justice media bites of 2024 URL: https://www.bmsg.org/top-10-public-health-and-social-justice-media-bites-of-2024/ Type: post Modified: 2024-12-18 Words: 1371 > For public health professionals and communicators focused on equity and justice, this year, in many ways, was overwhelming. In the wake of the election, we face deep uncertainty and an... For public health professionals and communicators focused on equity and justice, this year, in many ways, was overwhelming. In the wake of the election, we face deep uncertainty and an environment more hostile to the future we long for. At the same time, we are met with communities and advocates across the country renewing our hope, our energy, and our steadfast commitment to cultivating a better world for everyone — no matter who you are or where you live. These efforts remind us that social change takes time and can follow different trajectories in different places. As George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison have written, “If we were to imagine that transformative political change took place in a linear, gradual, and granular fashion, there would be nothing to hope for, and we might as well give up and go home. But it doesn’t work this way. It proceeds by means of sudden ruptures.” Each community organizing gathering, each filled mutual aid request, each passed local ballot measure furthering public health — these are the sudden ruptures creating change in communities across the country and across the world. They are the sustaining, life-giving efforts that will continue to move us forward no matter the political conditions we face. They remain — and so does our hope. Throughout the year, as staff members monitor the news, we hold on to quotes that reaffirm our hope for the future. These media bites — pulled from news articles, op-eds, and social media posts — motivate us to push forward, challenge us to consider perspectives different from our own, or inspire us to imagine the kind of world we’d like to see. In keeping with BMSG’s annual tradition, we have curated a list of our favorite media bites from the past year. Our top picks are below, along with our reasons for including them. Enjoy the list, and share your own favorites with us on social media. Top 10 media bites “We’ve been told — working class people — that as long as you get an education, then you will have job prospects, you’ll be able to take care of your family, you’ll be able to have a future. I really used to blame myself a lot, and I used to feel a lot of shame. Then, I started to look at the policies and I’m like, ‘Wait a second. Is it personal responsibility, or is it really bad policy?’ and I realized it’s bad policy, straight up.” —Maddy Clifford, Oakland-based artist, writer, and organizer.Appeared March 21, 2024 on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Why we like it: With this quote, Clifford challenges “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” ideology and individualistic framing, pulling back the lens to invite a conversation about the systems and structures that hold people down. “It shouldn’t be easier to enlist in the military than it is to get good health care. And it shouldn’t be easier to go to war than to come home from it.” —Jenn Kerfoot, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer at DUOS, a startup addressing the “social determinants of aging.”Appeared April 29, 2024 in STAT News. Why we like it: The pithy and powerful juxtaposition in this quote elevates values of health and safety, showing that you don’t need a lot of words to make a strong argument. “We did not just raise the minimum wage to $20 an hour for fast food workers. We helped a father or mother feed their children, we helped a student put gas in their car, and helped a grandparent get their grandchild a birthday gift.” —Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena)Appeared May 1, 2024 in KTLA. Why we like it: Assemblymember Chris Holden deeply humanizes a topic that’s often treated as a data point, divorced from its impacts on workers’ real daily lives. Further, it speaks to the value of interconnection, displaying how people’s economic well-being shapes the health and well-being of those around them. “If food waste were a country, it would be somewhere around the world’s third or fourth biggest emitter of carbon.” —David Wallace-Walls, bestselling science-writer and essayist exploring climate change and technology.Appeared July 28, 2024 in The New York Times. Why we like it: Although data often enhances storytelling, numbers don’t always capture the full story. They require context to make them meaningful. This quote is a compelling example of social math, “the practice of using relatable comparisons to make large numbers comprehensible. ” “Our disabilities are not flaws to be fixed, but integral parts of our identities that shape our unique perspectives and strengths.” —Kim Chua, Creative Director at Asian Americans with Disabilities Initiative.Appeared July 28, 2024 in NPR. Why we like it: With this quote, Kim Chua employs asset-based framing, a narrative framework that uplifts people’s strengths, aspirations, and contributions, rather than their challenges. This type of framing empowers and invests in the folks and communities whose stories are covered in the news. Further, Chua, a person with disabilities and disability activist, is an authentic voice — someone whose perspectiv... --- ## California Department of Public Health: Communicating effectively about public health URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/california-department-of-public-health-communicating-effectively-about-public-health/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-06 Words: 62 > BMSG trainers Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Rosaura Wardsworth delivered "Communicating effectively about public health," a two-day in-person training to build message development capacity and spokesperson skills among the California Department... BMSG trainers Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Rosaura Wardsworth delivered “Communicating effectively about public health,” a two-day in-person training to build message development capacity and spokesperson skills among the California Department of Public Health’s communications staff. The goal was for staff to learn how to develop and deliver proactive, culturally competent, personalized, coordinated and equitable public health messages. --- ## Imperial County Public Health Department: Communicating effectively about health across Imperial County URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/imperial-county-public-health-department-communicating-effectively-about-health-across-imperial-county/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-06 Words: 91 > BMSG delivered a two-part training series for members of the Imperial County Public Health Department. The first one was a 2-hour virtual workshop open to all health department staff during... BMSG delivered a two-part training series for members of the Imperial County Public Health Department. The first one was a 2-hour virtual workshop open to all health department staff during which participants learned about strategic communication and media advocacy as narrative-change for racial and health equity. The second was an all-day training for approximately 30 participants; the first half was designed to help all department leaders develop and deliver effective messages to key decisionmakers; the second half was specific to the communications needs of department leaders. --- ## UC Berkeley Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health (MCAH) Program URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/uc-berkeley-maternal-child-and-adolescent-health-mcah-program/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-06 Words: 69 > On November 6, 2024, the day after the presidential election, BMSG facilitated a session with students taking the Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health core course at Berkeley Public Health. The... On November 6, 2024, the day after the presidential election, BMSG facilitated a session with students taking the Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health core course at Berkeley Public Health. The students met the moment with a clear-eyed recognition of the challenges facing us in this moment and a renewed commitment to bringing their power to fight for the public’s health and the communities that inspire their work. --- ## Hope and Heal Fund: How to talk about community-led work to stop firearm death and injury URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/hope-and-heal-fund-how-to-talk-about-community-led-work-to-stop-firearm-death-and-injury/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-06 Words: 154 > BMSG’s Associate Program Director and Director of Research, Pamela Mejia and Head of Strategic Consultation, Ingrid Daffner Krasnow delivered two trainings for grantees of the Hope and Heal Fund. BMSG... BMSG’s Associate Program Director and Director of Research, Pamela Mejia and Head of Strategic Consultation, Ingrid Daffner Krasnow delivered two trainings for grantees of the Hope and Heal Fund. BMSG presented some of the findings from the research they conducted on how the media framed stories on different forms of firearm violence as well as the public’s perception on these issues. They were also joined by Kelvin Ward, who leads the Violence Intervention/Prevention Advocacy work as a Community Organizer for Inland Congregations United For Change (ICUC). Kelvin shared some of the lessons from his work in San Bernardino county on how they changed their approach to media strategy and how it led to effective results. Participants also got hands-on experience to work through message strategy, message development, learned how to address difficult questions that come up in their work, and got the opportunity to practice their media interviewing skills. --- ## Narratives for Health Community of Practice: Media advocacy as a tool to build narrative power URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/narratives-for-health-community-of-practice-media-advocacy-as-a-tool-to-build-narrative-power/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-06 Words: 63 > BMSG trainer Jocelyn Polanco delivered a presentation to the Narratives for Health community of practice group. The presentation focused on how media advocacy can be used as a tool in... BMSG trainer Jocelyn Polanco delivered a presentation to the Narratives for Health community of practice group. The presentation focused on how media advocacy can be used as a tool in coordination with policy efforts to shift narratives, using examples from BMSG’s previous work in partnership with the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII) on eviction moratoriums during the COVID-19 pandemic. --- ## New England Prevention Technology Transfer Center: Developing effective messages to prevent substance misuse URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/new-england-prevention-technology-transfer-center-developing-effective-messages-to-prevent-substance-misuse/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-06 Words: 54 > BMSG trainers Ingrid Daffner Krasnow and Jocelyn Polanco held a two part virtual training for substance misuse prevention professionals for the New England Prevention Technology Transfer Center (PTTC). Part one... BMSG trainers Ingrid Daffner Krasnow and Jocelyn Polanco held a two part virtual training for substance misuse prevention professionals for the New England Prevention Technology Transfer Center (PTTC). Part one included a webinar on media advocacy. In part two, participants picked up additional messaging tips on BMSG’s core concepts, including social math. --- ## Public Health Alliance of Southern California: Communicating effectively about public health initiatives URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/public-health-alliance-of-southern-california-communicating-effectively-about-public-health-initiatives/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-06 Words: 58 > BMSG’s Ingrid Daffner Krasnow delivered a virtual workshop for the Public Health Alliance of SoCal Equity Workgroup. Participants learned the basics of crafting and delivering effective messages that advance health-promoting... BMSG’s Ingrid Daffner Krasnow delivered a virtual workshop for the Public Health Alliance of SoCal Equity Workgroup. Participants learned the basics of crafting and delivering effective messages that advance health-promoting policies for everyone in their communities. They were able to practice creating messages relevant to their current work and received real time feedback from BMSG trainers. --- ## ASTHO Policy Academy 201: Messaging & Communication URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/astho-policy-academy-201-messaging-communication/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-06 Words: 48 > BMSG’s Ingrid Daffner Krasnow delivered a virtual training for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) as a part of their ACE’s Policy Academy series. This training focused... BMSG’s Ingrid Daffner Krasnow delivered a virtual training for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) as a part of their ACE’s Policy Academy series. This training focused on best practices for strategic communications to advance health equity messaging pertaining to adverse childhood experiences. --- ## ‘Together is where we save lives’: A messaging guide for California advocates working to reduce injuries and fatalities from firearms URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/together-is-where-we-save-lives-a-messaging-guide-for-california-advocates-working-to-reduce-injuries-and-fatalities-from-firearms/ Type: publications Modified: 2024-12-05 Words: 6808 > Introduction Is there more violent crime in the United States than there was a year ago? Less? What about in your local area? A 2023 survey from Gallup found that... Introduction Is there more violent crime in the United States than there was a year ago? Less? What about in your local area? A 2023 survey from Gallup found that Americans are confused about these questions, and perceptions of violent crime often do not align with the data.2 In 2024, the U.S. Surgeon General declared injury and death from firearms a public health crisis, which highlighted the critical and ongoing need for solutions to the crisis grounded in principles of community action and systems change. California advocates are already at the forefront of leading community-organizing efforts to move the needle on firearm injury and death, using a range of interventions from school-based and restorative practices to trauma-responsive care to cognitive behavioral therapy. This guide is intended for advocates; it aims to give them a roadmap for using the news to lift up those solutions and amplify messages from the communities most affected by the problem, so that the narrative around efforts to prevent firearm injury and death is as robust as prevention, intervention, and healing work happening around the state. News coverage matters because it not only affects the public’s knowledge about violence and its causes, but also shapes how audiences understand potential solutions.4,10 We hope the tactics outlined here will help advocates to better align their organizing and messaging efforts so that policies and programs to reduce violence and promote healing — as well as the narrative surrounding them — reinforce one another. That’s a key step toward helping move us faster and further toward a world in which safety is the norm. Who is this guide for? This guide is for advocates who are working to help reduce injuries and deaths from firearms in their community and want to become better, more confident communicators on the subject. Because this issue affects people from many different walks of life, we hope it is equally useful to advocates from varying backgrounds. Maybe you are a veteran, and your primary concern is about firearm suicide. Perhaps you are a responsible gun owner whose main goal is to support local efforts to keep your loved ones safe. Maybe you have never handled a firearm, but you have seen the ripple effect of trauma that results when they are misused. You might engage in advocacy as a researcher or simply as a concerned community member who is becoming more active in this work. Your neighborhood could be urban or rural, racially homogenous or ethnically diverse. Further, you might be focused on a very specific issue area, like domestic violence, self-harm, or community violence. We aimed to create a resource that is flexible enough to address communication challenges that span location and demographics — and that you can refine and tailor to your community and needs because you are the expert on your own background and experience, and know the challenges and needs in your own community. As you read this guide, think of it as a foundation — one that will equip you with research-based lessons and communication guidance that you can adapt based on your local context and specific social change goals. Using this foundation, you will be able to create messages and media pitches that help to advance those goals. You will also be able to anticipate roadblocks and plan ways around them. Still wondering? Frequently asked questions — and answers to help you decide Here are some frequently asked questions that might help you decide if this is the right resource for you: Q: I’m an organizer — why do I need the news media? One of the main ways people come to understand the world around them, apart from direct experience, is through the media. It shapes what people know — and, critically, what they don’t know — about social issues like deaths and injuries involving firearms. How journalists report on issues affects what solutions people support and whether they even believe that change is possible. Media, then, create the tides that organizers and advocates must swim in. The Surgeon General’s announcement framing firearm injury and death as public health crises could be an important moment to build a groundswell of support for innovative, community-led solutions — but it will take work to maintain that energy and attention. If media narratives run counter to your goals, then your job as an organizer will be much more difficult. That’s why it’s important to know not only how the news is characterizing death and injury from firearms, but also how you can make sure that your community’s perspectives are part of the conversation. If the people most affected by an issue don’t see their own voices and concerns reflected back to them in media coverage, then instead of feeling inspired to act, they may feel isolated and take fewer actions or disengage altogether. To help shape media narratives in ways that elevate community voices, advocates can engage in a practice known as media advocacy, which means leveragin... --- ## ‘A vehicle of hope’: Hope and Heal Fund’s Brian Malte on narrative change and firearm violence prevention URL: https://www.bmsg.org/a-vehicle-of-hope-hope-and-heal-funds-brian-malte-on-narrative-change-and-firearm-violence-prevention/ Type: post Modified: 2024-12-06 Words: 1971 > Brian Malte, Executive Director of the Hope and Heal Fund, is a nationally recognized leader in the gun violence prevention movement and deeply believes all people and communities have a... Brian Malte, Executive Director of the Hope and Heal Fund, is a nationally recognized leader in the gun violence prevention movement and deeply believes all people and communities have a right to be safe and free from firearm-related violence, deaths, injuries, and trauma. Over his 30-year career, he has led community-based movements and strategic policy initiatives to keep homes and communities safe from gun violence. In 2001, he joined the Washington, D.C., office of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, serving in roles including National Field Director, Political Director, and National Policy Director. In 2016, he returned to his home state of California to lead Hope and Heal Fund. Hope and Heal Fund is a first-of-its-kind, donor collaborative fund investing in a public health, racial equity, and community-based approach to preventing firearm violence and suicide in California. Its mere existence — and its intersectional approach to addressing community violence, firearm suicide, and domestic violence — is a big win for public health and community safety, even being modeled beyond California with the Colorado Safe Futures Fund. Malte’s experience working on legislative efforts to curb firearm violence taught him that, although policies that promote public safety are important, public health tools like education, community power-building, and narrative change are integral to reducing firearm injuries and trauma and cultivating safer communities. Recognizing this, Hope and Heal Fund takes a multi-pronged approach to prevention: supporting leaders at the community level, finding ways to drive systems change, and generating public health tools like our new, jointly created messaging guide ‘Together is where we save lives’: A messaging guide for California advocates working to reduce injuries and fatalities from firearms. To learn more about Hope and Heal Fund, and dive deeper into the messaging guide, I sat down with Hope and Heal Fund Executive Director Brian Malte. Q&A Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity. What inspired the creation of the messaging guide, ‘Together is where we save lives’: A messaging guide for California advocates working to reduce injuries and fatalities from firearms? It was a culmination of 20 years at Brady, some of it here in California. As I evolved in the movement, I became very frustrated at the lack of involvement in decision-making amongst communities most impacted by gun violence. I knew that had to change, and that starts with changing the narrative about this issue. It was born out of the recognition that those most impacted must have a seat at the table and not have others making decisions for them and their communities. The messaging guide is a vehicle of hope because it is a critical tool that will lead to transformative and sustainable change. How does today’s media landscape impact advocates’ ability to craft and convey meaningful messages about violence prevention? I think it’s a heck of a lot tougher every year. Newsrooms are strapped. People are strapped. It seems like everything is changing rapidly. This is a real challenge. And then, social media: We learned during the election, especially, that so many people get their news from social media. It’s a question of, ‘How can we engage social media and reach more people, especially younger people who aren’t engaging as much with traditional media?’ The landscape started to change when we started Hope and Heal Fund, but it’s really changed now. It’s something we have to stay attuned to. However, having said that, I do have a lot of hope. Narrative change is about putting credible messengers front and center and recognizing that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution. Whether it’s traditional media or social media, nothing changes the fact that survivors and community leaders have powerful stories to tell, and they should be the primary spokespeople for their communities. While social media has its own set of challenges, it’s also a great opportunity for community leaders to reach diverse and large audiences. The messaging guide is chock-full of important takeaways for advocates. From a high-level point of view, what do you hope advocates will gain from the messaging guide? Well, this isn’t about just getting a quote in the media, it’s an opportunity to tell the real story of a community. I want them to see a few things: First don’t let others define your community. And you have solutions, right? Get those solutions out there. People need to see that there is hope for what many see as an intractable problem. But I think even more, I’d like to see this be part and parcel of a development strategy for community-based organizations. There are a lot of city and county councils that don’t even know about the many great organizations in their own community creating change and positively impacting lives. These local organizations might not be known if they don’t have the infrastruct... --- ## Sacramento County Public Health Department: Strategic communication for public health URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/sacramento-county-public-health-department-strategic-communication-for-public-health/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-05 Words: 62 > Berkeley Media Studies Group trainers Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Rosaura Wardsworth traveled to Sacramento, CA to deliver an in-person spokesperson training for staff at the Sacramento Public Health Department. Participants... Berkeley Media Studies Group trainers Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Rosaura Wardsworth traveled to Sacramento, CA to deliver an in-person spokesperson training for staff at the Sacramento Public Health Department. Participants learned how to incorporate an overall strategy to frame the role of public health, to craft strategic messages that address health equity, and how to deliver messages in high pressure settings. --- ## Rural Association of Northern California Health Officers: Powermapping and message development training series URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/rural-association-of-northern-california-health-officers-powermapping-and-message-development-training-series/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-05 Words: 69 > Berkeley Media Studies Group’s Katherine Schaff and Ingrid Daffner Krasnow, held a two part training series for the Rural Association of Northern California Health Officers (RANCHO). The webinars focused on... Berkeley Media Studies Group’s Katherine Schaff and Ingrid Daffner Krasnow, held a two part training series for the Rural Association of Northern California Health Officers (RANCHO). The webinars focused on powermapping and message development. BMSG provided further technical assistance to California Center for Rural Policy staff and to local health departments to help them apply what they have learned from the webinars to their local needs and contexts. --- ## Missouri Foundation for Health: Media advocacy to advance firearm suicide prevention goals URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/missouri-foundation-for-health-media-advocacy-to-advance-firearm-suicide-prevention-goals/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-05 Words: 59 > BMSG trainers Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Rosaura Wardsworth delivered a media advocacy training for the Missouri Foundation for Health as part of their firearm suicide prevention work. During the virtual... BMSG trainers Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Rosaura Wardsworth delivered a media advocacy training for the Missouri Foundation for Health as part of their firearm suicide prevention work. During the virtual training, participants learned about the role of the news in shaping narratives about firearm suicide, what makes a story newsworthy, and how to create a media and communications strategy. --- ## All Children Thrive Modesto and Santa Ana: Introduction to media and strategic communication URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/all-children-thrive-modesto-and-santa-ana-introduction-to-media-and-strategic-communication/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-05 Words: 55 > Berkeley Media Studies Group’s Ingrid Daffner Krasnow led a series of training sessions for youth leaders from All Children Thrive’s Modesto and Santa Ana chapters. The youth leaders participated in... Berkeley Media Studies Group’s Ingrid Daffner Krasnow led a series of training sessions for youth leaders from All Children Thrive’s Modesto and Santa Ana chapters. The youth leaders participated in an introductory workshop on media and strategic communication to help equip them with the skills to become effective media advocates for their communities. --- ## Health Officer Association of California: Strategic communication and media spokesperson training URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/health-officer-association-of-california-strategic-communication-and-media-spokesperson-training/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-05 Words: 77 > Berkeley Media Studies Group was out in full force with BMSG director Lori Dorfman, Health Equity Coordinator Katherine Schaff, and the training team’s... Berkeley Media Studies Group was out in full force with BMSG director Lori Dorfman, Health Equity Coordinator Katherine Schaff, and the training team’s Ingrid Daffner Krasnow, Rosaura Wardsworth, and Shaddai Martinez Cuestas. The BMSG team traveled to Lake Tahoe,CA to present at the California Conference of Local Health Officers. Participants learned all about the Layers of Strategy and got hands-on experience with power mapping, framing, and messaging. --- ## Missouri Foundation for Health: Communicating effectively about firearm suicide prevention URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/missouri-foundation-for-health-communicating-effectively-about-firearm-suicide-prevention-3/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-05 Words: 61 > Berkeley Media Studies Group trainers Rosaura Wardsworth and Shaddai Martinez Cuestas traveled to the midwest to the Missouri Foundation for Health headquarters. BMSG delivered a presentation to a cohort of... Berkeley Media Studies Group trainers Rosaura Wardsworth and Shaddai Martinez Cuestas traveled to the midwest to the Missouri Foundation for Health headquarters. BMSG delivered a presentation to a cohort of firearm suicide prevention advocates. Participants learned how to continue developing messages that highlight systems change solutions, how to apply messages to public speaking opportunities, and even learned a few media tactics. --- ## The HOME Cohort: Communicating effectively about domestic violence and homelessness URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/the-home-cohort-communicating-effectively-about-domestic-violence-and-homelessness/ Type: events Modified: 2024-12-05 Words: 70 > Berkeley Media Studies Group trainers Ingrid Daffner Krasnow and Shaddai Martinez Cuestas delivered a virtual training to a cohort of agencies working to improve the safety and economic security of... Berkeley Media Studies Group trainers Ingrid Daffner Krasnow and Shaddai Martinez Cuestas delivered a virtual training to a cohort of agencies working to improve the safety and economic security of women who are experiencing homelessness due to domestic violence. Participants learned how to apply the media advocacy research to create effective messages about the intersection of domestic violence and homelessness, best practices for interviewing, and how to approach difficult questions. --- ## Missouri Foundation for Health: Communicating effectively about firearm suicide prevention URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/missouri-foundation-for-health-communicating-effectively-about-firearm-suicide-prevention-2/ Type: events Modified: 2024-11-20 Words: 61 > Berkeley Media Studies Group trainers Rosaura Wardsworth and Shaddai Martinez Cuestas traveled to the Midwest to the Missouri Foundation for Health headquarters. BMSG delivered a presentation to a cohort of... Berkeley Media Studies Group trainers Rosaura Wardsworth and Shaddai Martinez Cuestas traveled to the Midwest to the Missouri Foundation for Health headquarters. BMSG delivered a presentation to a cohort of firearm suicide prevention advocates. Participants learned how to continue developing messages that highlight systems change solutions, how to apply messages to public speaking opportunities, and even learned a few media tactics. --- ## Spokesperson Training for End Hepatitis C San Francisco URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/spokesperson-training-for-end-hepatitis-c-san-francisco/ Type: events Modified: 2024-11-15 Words: 89 > Berkeley Media Studies Group’s Ingrid Daffner Krasnow sat down with End Hepatitis C San Francisco's Community Navigator cohorts for a listening session to hear them share their own lived experiences... Berkeley Media Studies Group’s Ingrid Daffner Krasnow sat down with End Hepatitis C San Francisco’s Community Navigator cohorts for a listening session to hear them share their own lived experiences and how it shapes their storytelling strategies. BMSG traveled to San Francisco, CA to lead two in-person training sessions demonstrating how to use the Layers of Strategy to plan media advocacy activities, learning what frames are and why they matter, how to create values-based messages, and best practices in delivering messages to the public. --- ## Alcohol Epidemiology and Prevention Training Series: Communication Strategies URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/alcohol-epidemiology-and-prevention-training-series-communication-strategies/ Type: events Modified: 2024-11-15 Words: 61 > Berkeley Media Studies Group trainers Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Rosaura Wardsworth led a session on communications as part of the Alcohol Epidemiology and Prevention Training Series. BMSG led state alcohol epidemiologists,... Berkeley Media Studies Group trainers Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Rosaura Wardsworth led a session on communications as part of the Alcohol Epidemiology and Prevention Training Series. BMSG led state alcohol epidemiologists, prevention specialists, communications specialists, and data analysts from across the nation through messaging, framing, and social math concepts. Participants worked on how they can translate the science into everyday practice. --- ## Changing the story about park and green space equity: A messaging guide for advocates URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/changing-the-story-about-park-and-green-space-equity-a-messaging-guide-for-advocates/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-02-10 Words: 7217 > Introduction Take a deep breath, and imagine: outdoor space that belongs to everyone, where all people — no matter their race or income — can breathe freely and safely. Communities... Introduction Take a deep breath, and imagine: outdoor space that belongs to everyone, where all people — no matter their race or income — can breathe freely and safely. Communities across the country are working toward that vision, building their power to literally transform the landscape and ensure that the distribution of parks and green space is equitable, that structures are in place so they remain so, and that community members are the ones leading this work. How we talk about parks and green spaces can help — or hinder — that progress. To bring park equity to scale, we need to center narratives led by those who are rooted in communities where park inequities are profound. But what is the dominant narrative about parks and green space? And how different is that dominant narrative from the narrative we want to see? Currently, dominant narratives minimize the importance of parks and green space for health and well-being. As we will see, while people think that parks are “universally good” and “nice to have,” they do not consider them essential.2 When people’s conceptualizations of parks and green spaces are “empty” of people and wildlife, it is harder for them to see the connection and value of parks to the well-being of individuals and communities — and why park and green space equity matters. In short, we need a new narrative: one that centers community and connects park and green space to health, joy, and liberation. It won’t be enough to counter these harmful narratives merely by insisting that parks and green space are essential because, oddly enough, simply rebutting an argument can reinforce it if the language does not evoke a different understanding of the problem. To transform the dominant narrative, communities need to tell their own stories, clearly connect their solutions to their values, and deliver those messages with confidence in many different venues. The narrative should be flexible so that people coming from different issue areas can see themselves in the story of park equity, elevate and articulate the intersections with their work, and support each other in building power and achieving the necessary changes to bring about park and green space equity. Our new narrative must also adapt to hold a number of policy solutions that cross different issue areas so that advocates can use it to respond to immediate needs and to build support for our long-term vision. In other words, this new narrative will need to encompass the joy of the world we want to see, not just the harms we need to rectify in the short term. That’s what this guide is for. In this resource, you will find frames, language, and communication tools that racial justice and public health advocates can use to shape a new narrative that helps decision-makers see park equity as the result of an inclusive process that can bring more green space into communities, along with the joy and liberation that parks and green space promise. To construct this tool, Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) used an iterative, inclusive process that centers the experiences of those working to advance park equity, health equity, and racial justice — advocates and organizers who know that green space equity happens when processes are in place that recognize the right of residents to determine how land is used, and that mechanisms exist to make those decisions lasting and fair. As part of this work, BMSG participated in the P3 (People, Parks, and Power) initiative, which leverages community power-building in different locales around the country to transform how decisions are made about parks and green spaces. Throughout every phase of our analysis, we listened closely to P3 participants as they worked to build power to create park and green space equity, putting into practice Prevention Institute’s three-part framework of procedural, distributional, and structural equity. How we wrote this guide BMSG’s message guides, known as Yellow Books, are comprehensive guides, each based on research and deep listening, that provide advocates with consistent, strong messages, taking into account the specific policy context in which the message will be heard, the target audience, the messenger who will deliver the message, and the media context (such as in pitching stories to reporters or answering difficult questions from decision-makers). We call them Yellow Books because they are modeled after an early guide in tobacco control, known as the Yellow Book, that helped the field understand the importance of framing and media advocacy. Many of the concepts we apply to this park equity yellow book are adapted from BMSG’s prior work, which includes message guides on sexual violence, assault, and harassment;4 tobacco;6 We used multiple research methods, including news analysis, textual analysis, and in-depth interviews and listening sessions to investigate how problems and solutions about parks and green space are discussed, including who is part of the story about par... --- ## Join BMSG at APHA 2024 URL: https://www.bmsg.org/join-bmsg-at-apha-2024/ Type: post Modified: 2024-10-22 Words: 542 > Against a deeply divided political backdrop and a media landscape rife with misinformation, the theme for this year’s gathering of the American Public Health Association, Rebuilding Trust in Public Health... Against a deeply divided political backdrop and a media landscape rife with misinformation, the theme for this year’s gathering of the American Public Health Association, Rebuilding Trust in Public Health and Science, could not be more timely. BMSG is excited to join fellow researchers in Minneapolis to do our small part in fostering healthy information environments. During a pre-conference workshop, our team will be offering tips for communicating about health equity and why it matters, amid attacks on this work. Then, during our sessions on Monday, Oct. 28, we will equip advocates to communicate about difficult topics like the intersection of domestic violence and firearms, and the problematic narratives that have mischaracterized parks and green space as nice bonuses rather than as essential parts of a healthy community. We will also discuss ways to empower historically disenfranchised communities to tell their own stories and make the case for change. Detailed session information is below. We hope to see you in Minneapolis or connect with you online using #APHA2024. APHA is also live-streaming select sessions this year. Session details for other programs of the Public Health Institute, our fiscal sponsor, can be found on PHI’s website and on X at #phiAPHA. Pre-conference workshop | Recommitting to equity: The path forward in turbulent times Saturday, October 26, 20248:30 a.m. – noon CSTSeparate registration required Recent political polarization, underfunding of scientific research, and distrust of core institutions like public health agencies threaten our ability to ensure optimal health and well-being for all. As part of a half-day pre-conference workshop, BMSG researchers will review core approaches for public health leaders, practitioners, and community partners to keep in mind when they’re communicating about equity work and why it matters. As attacks on equity work increase, the techniques for effective communication — from leading with values to using plain language — matter now more than ever. Poster | Talking about domestic violence and firearms: What’s missing from narratives and how we can communicate more effectively to save lives Monday, October 28, 202410:30 – 11:30 a.m. CSTSession 3086: Violence Prevention and Control Board 8 Domestic violence and firearms are deeply interconnected, but do news narratives address that? What does this mean for those being abused? And what populations are at greatest risk? In this poster session, BMSG Director of Research & Associate Program Director Pamela Mejia will share findings from an extensive narrative-change project and highlight best practices for advocates making the case for solutions that can keep families and communities safe. Read the abstract here. Presentation | Communicating about park and green space equity Monday, October 28, 20243:15 p.m. CST Session 3288: Crafting Messages and Narrative for Health Policy Advocacy (organized by HCWG), 2:30 – 4:00 p.m. CST Parks are integral parts of our communities that benefit our health, but many neighborhoods lack them as a result of redlining, segregation, and other racist policies and practices. In this presentation, BMSG Media Researcher Hina Mahmood will share tools to communicate with decision-makers about how we can make sure all communities have access to green space — and a voice in the decision-making process. Read the abstract here. --- ## Messaging guide for communicating about overdose prevention URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/message-guide-for-communicating-about-overdose-prevention/ Type: publications Modified: 2026-10-13 Words: 9538 > Introduction Overdose prevention saves lives. While there are many successful and proven strategies for overdose prevention, substance use treatment, and harm reduction, they are not well-known or widely available. Worse,... Introduction Overdose prevention saves lives. While there are many successful and proven strategies for overdose prevention, substance use treatment, and harm reduction, they are not well-known or widely available. Worse, they are characterized as controversial and plagued by misinformation. For many people living with substance use disorder or people who use drugs, including prescription opioids and illicit fentanyl, there are many barriers keeping them from receiving adequate and high-quality information and care, which can lead to poorer health outcomes and increased risk of death, particularly among Black, Indigenous, communities of color and LGBTQ+ communities. While some have taken to social media to share life-saving information, local leaders and advocates are continuously working to counter misinformation, stigma, and pushback from the public, service providers, law enforcement, and government leaders. To support advocates and local leaders in their efforts to communicate effectively about substance use treatment and overdose prevention, the National Overdose Prevention Network (NOPN), based at the Public Health Institute’s Center for Health Leadership and Impact, partnered with Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) to develop messaging and communication resources. This guide provides recommendations and resources for local leaders and advocates developing strategies to communicate about overdose prevention with a range of audiences. It includes examples that focus on key issue areas that emerged from our conversations with experts: stigma against people who use substances, pushback against policies like harm reduction efforts and substance use treatment, and unique considerations for rural communities. What we did: BMSG researchers analyzed existing resources from around the U.S. on communicating about overdose prevention, including toolkits, webinars, and reports. We also interviewed a range of overdose prevention experts across rural and urban California, including physicians, outreach workers, health educators, law enforcement, and coalition leaders to gain first-hand insights into the unique challenges and opportunities they see for effective communication about overdose prevention. We engaged with additional reviewers with expertise in overdose prevention to evaluate sample messages and provide recommendations for improvement. Our hope is that leaders and community supporters will use this guide as a resource for ideas whenever they need to talk about overdose prevention. We offer a roadmap with concrete recommendations to develop effective, strategic communications: Step 1 describes “overall strategy” — the reason messages are developed, and the context in which messages are delivered. We start there because before you can have an effective message, you need to know your overall goal and have a plan for achieving it. You can think of your overall strategy as the destination for your roadmap. Step 2 offers concrete advice on constructing messages that help people manage complicated views about substance use and move them toward supporting overdose prevention efforts. You can think of your message strategy as signs to guide your audience towards your destination or overall goal. Step 3 provides recommendations for getting your messages out to your target audience (in other words, your access strategy) and preparing for communication challenges. You can think of these as routes to reach your desired audiences. These steps are informed by BMSG’s approach to and experience in strategic communication, and each of the recommendations is grounded in our analysis of advocacy materials and interviews with experts. Throughout the guide, you will also find links to resources from NOPN and other groups to build on these recommendations and provide additional information. Step 1: Define your overall strategy: What do you want people to do? Before you can decide what to say, you must know what you want to change, who has the power to change it, and why it needs to be changed. In other words, message is never first. Often when people don’t know what to say, it means they don’t know what to do. A clear overall strategy helps to define your “destination” or goal. With a specific and well-defined goal, you can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your communication: It will help you allocate time, money, and effort towards reaching that goal or destination. Key questions for your overall strategy What issue or problem do you want to address? How you define the problem affects how people think about solving it. In trying to communicate about how big, and how important, overdose prevention is, it can be tempting to try and say everything that you know about overdose prevention any time you have the opportunity to talk about it. Resist that urge, and remember: it is impossible to be comprehensive and strategic at the same time. Instead, to make your statement of the problem clear and understandable, focus o... --- ## ‘Don’t think of a soda’: Contradictory public health messaging from a content analysis of Twitter posts about sugar-sweetened beverage taxes in California from 2015 to 2018 URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/dont-think-of-a-soda-contradictory-public-health-messaging-from-a-content-analysis-of-twitter-posts-about-sugar-sweetened-beverage-taxes-in-california-from-2015-to-2018/ Type: publications Modified: 2024-07-11 Words: 246 > Abstract To show how sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes were framed in posts on Twitter (now known as X) through text and images, we conducted a content analysis on a sample... Abstract To show how sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes were framed in posts on Twitter (now known as X) through text and images, we conducted a content analysis on a sample of Tweets from California users posted between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2018 about SSB taxes in Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland, and/or Albany, California. We evaluated posts for information sources, arguments for or against SSB tax policies, and images used. We found that posts presented a mix of messages through text and images. The majority of posts (64%) included arguments supporting SSB taxes, 28% presented a neutral position (e.g., factual information) or a mix of both pro-and anti-tax arguments, and 8% opposed. One-third of posts included an image, almost half of which appeared to be stock photos from SSB advertisements: many of these were shared by medical and public health users. Some tax supporters also reposted messages and images from opposition campaigns and added their own criticisms. By reposting opponents’ anti-tax messages and images of SSBs, tax supporters may have inadvertently promoted SSBs, reinforced opposition to SSB taxes, and normalized SSBs. While advocates effectively shared pro-tax arguments, they should also ensure that accompanying images reflect the solutions they seek, not just the problem they are trying to combat. Full text To view the full text, visit the journal Frontiers in Public Health at https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1390253/full. --- ## Women’s everyday experiences must be at the center of abortion stories URL: https://www.bmsg.org/womens-everyday-experiences-must-be-at-the-center-of-abortion-stories/ Type: post Modified: 2024-06-24 Words: 1194 > In the two years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, journalists have been working tirelessly to show how continued efforts to restrict abortion impact the lives of women... In the two years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, journalists have been working tirelessly to show how continued efforts to restrict abortion impact the lives of women and pregnant people. We regularly hear horrifying stories, like that of a Tennessee woman whose state forced her to carry a high-risk pregnancy even though the embryo had implanted itself in scar tissue. Or the story of a South Carolina woman who had to travel out of state for an abortion after her IUD failed. Or the tragedy of a 13-year-old girl from Mississippi who gave birth after being raped and impregnated by a stranger. These stories are all important, and they desperately need to be told. Further, they signal a needed increase in abortion coverage that features women’s voices: BMSG research found that only 8% of stories about abortion from 2014-2015 included women’s personal experiences. The trouble is, the horrific stories we’re seeing in news coverage are not representative of the most common reasons — beyond medical concerns — that 1 in 4 women will have an abortion in their lifetime: because having a baby would interfere with her education or work goals, because of financial inability to provide for a child, or because another child would inhibit them from caring for children they already have. No one should have to suffer to deserve access to abortion. If we truly want to remove the stigma from this basic form of reproductive health care, which a majority of Americans continue to support, then a broader spectrum of abortion stories — ones that reflect ordinary life — need to be told, too. My story is just that — not gruesome, or tragic, or shocking — but ordinary. At age 19, I found myself alone in a grocery store bathroom, staring at a positive pregnancy test, absolutely stunned. It was summer 2020, and I was back in my hometown as a result of the pandemic. I had been seeing an old friend again — first for socially distanced walks and picnics in the park, and then romantically. Amidst the heightened anxiety of the times, we took comfort in the familiar — in each other. When I found out I was pregnant, he was getting ready to leave for college, and I was desperate to get back to the life I had been building for myself in my own college town. As a First-Generation Lower-Income (FGLI) student at the university of my dreams, my opportunity to attend school meant more to me than anything else. And as the daughter of generations of women who had sacrificed their aspirations for their children and families, I felt I owed it to them to focus wholeheartedly on my education and career. For me, having an abortion didn’t feel like a choice — it felt like the only path forward to honor myself and the women who came before me. I went alone to a clinic, too overcome with shame to even tell anyone, let alone ask someone to come with me. Making that choice — in rural Ohio, no less — was incredibly difficult. But it was mine. And it was right. When I arrived at the clinic, I sobbed in the waiting room. The kind doctor who provided my care sat next to me, asked if the decision I was making was my own, and if I was certain of it. “I’m sad, but I’m sure,” I told her. “You’re saving my life.” And she was. She was preserving the possibility of the future that I’d always dreamed of. At BMSG, we regularly advise public health professionals and advocates to include social determinants of health — the contexts in which people live that contribute to their degree of wellness — when making the case for policies that decrease inequities and advance social justice. When it comes to abortion, the storied, full life of the woman seeking one makes up the landscape in which that choice is made. My abortion — like all abortions — did not happen in a vacuum. It took into account my own health, history, financial status, relationships, career trajectory, dreams, and goals. Too often, narratives about abortion do not acknowledge these truths, treating the woman involved as merely a vehicle — or a victim — rather than a full-fledged person. Anti-choice advocates have historically used such narratives and images, which center the fetus and omit the woman, to gain traction and chip away at reproductive freedom. BMSG’s 2017 research, for example, found language that personified the fetus present in 35% of news stories sampled. By contrast, the same research found that women disclosed their abortion experiences using their full name in less than 3% of mainstream print and online stories about abortion. Increasing women’s visibility and agency in stories about abortion strengthens pro-choice advocacy. Further, acknowledging the full spectrum of emotions a woman may (or may not) have about getting an abortion is also important. The anti-choice movement has successfully leveraged women’s pain to garner support. Our 2017 research found that stigma is perpetuated in the news by stories that frame abortion as emotionally and psychologically harmful. One way to fig... --- ## Finding that safe space: News about domestic violence and homelessness in California — and finding opportunities to build narrative power URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/finding-that-safe-space-news-about-domestic-violence-and-homelessness-in-california-and-finding-opportunities-to-build-narrative-power/ Type: publications Modified: 2024-06-08 Words: 6757 > Introduction We all want to see our fellow Californians safe and stably housed. Everyone deserves a space to call home, and advocates have worked toward this goal for decades. Similarly,... Introduction We all want to see our fellow Californians safe and stably housed. Everyone deserves a space to call home, and advocates have worked toward this goal for decades. Similarly, journalists have written an abundance of articles about the state’s housing crisis and efforts to end it. Yet a driving factor behind the crisis is going largely unreported in news coverage: domestic violence. News coverage rarely elevates the reality that as many as 57% of all homeless women report domestic violence (DV) as the immediate cause of their homelessness,1 or that 80% of unhoused women with children say they have experienced domestic violence, according to multiple studies.2,3 News outlets also frequently overlook how factors like the high cost of housing, under-resourced and overcrowded shelters that fail to take into account the needs of survivors, and discrimination from landlords against DV survivors all make it difficult for women to leave abusive situations.4 Other systemic barriers complicating the issue but often left out of stories about housing include low wages, increased caregiving duties, and mortgage lender discrimination against women. Some studies have also found gaps in the coverage of Black, Latine, and Indigenous groups who experience disproportionately higher rates of homelessness and DV,4 while over-representing their white counterparts in the news.5 Housing discrimination is also prevalent among trans, nonbinary, and other genderqueer adults.6 If we want the public and policymakers to fully understand California’s housing crisis — and how best to address it — we must look at the role that gender inequities, including domestic violence, play in fueling it. Narratives that frame these politically fraught issues as distinct and intractable can distort how the public and policymakers perceive them. To be sure, communicating about the intersections of such complex topics is challenging. Still, we know it can be done. In the summer of 2021, for instance, the staff at LAist published a series called “Pushed Out: How Domestic Violence Became The No. 1 Cause of Women’s Homelessness in L.A.,” thanks to a grant from the Blue Shield of California Foundation. The series elevated the lived experiences of Southern California women surviving abuse and homelessness, examined how social safety net failures had contributed to their situations, and shared prevention strategies from advocates. A year later, the Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI) drove additional coverage of these issues when it released a report called “Gender and Housing in California: An Analysis of the Gender Impacts of California’s Housing Affordability Crisis.”7 Following the report’s publication, the Los Angeles Times ran an article trumpeting the report’s findings “that women, particularly women of color and single mothers, are more likely to spend more than a third of their income on housing.”8 The article was rich with statistics and quotes from leaders like Betsy Butler, executive director of the California Women’s Law Center, who told the Times: “What can you afford if you’re not getting paid what you’re worth? You certainly can’t afford to live in Los Angeles, let alone raise a family in a healthy manner.” The article went on to discuss domestic violence specifically, noting that it “can lead to an array of financial and housing insecurity.” The Los Angeles Times wasn’t the only outlet to cover the report. ABC 7 aired a segment about it,9 and the Sacramento Business Journal ran an article with a special focus on increased rent burdens among women of color.10 The trouble is that these examples are outliers. When our research team examined California-based news about housing and domestic violence, we found that only a fraction of articles discussed the connection between the issues. For every article that made that link, dozens of others did not. To better understand how domestic violence and California’s housing crisis appear in news coverage, we examined not only the volume of coverage but also how these issues are framed, whose voices are represented, whether solutions are present, and more. We also drew insights from our findings to provide recommendations to advocates who are looking to elevate the connection between domestic abuse and housing insecurity. Although gender-based violence and housing are both complex social issues that require nuanced approaches, breaking down silos and exposing how they intersect is an important first step toward ensuring that every Californian, no matter their gender, race, or identity, is safe and housed. Why this project? And why now? In 2021, Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) worked with the Housing Opportunities Mean Everything (HOME) Cohort, funded by Women’s Foundation California, to identify and explore opportunities for narrative change. The HOME Cohort includes six DV agencies throughout California working to improve the safety and economic security of women in the state who are expe... --- ## 5 narrative change strategies for highlighting the connection between housing insecurity and domestic violence URL: https://www.bmsg.org/5-narrative-change-strategies-for-highlighting-the-connection-between-housing-insecurity-and-domestic-violence/ Type: post Modified: 2024-05-21 Words: 1489 > For Sammie Rayner, longtime advocate for people experiencing homelessness, lasting narrative change is only possible when we elevate women’s voices. Many social issues, including our lack of stable and affordable... For Sammie Rayner, longtime advocate for people experiencing homelessness, lasting narrative change is only possible when we elevate women’s voices. Many social issues, including our lack of stable and affordable housing, have unique and disparate impacts on people who identify as women, yet that reality is often missing from news coverage. How news covers social problems shapes what solutions the public and policymakers see as viable, so the omission of women’s perspectives makes necessary, lasting change more elusive. 80% of unhoused women with children report having experienced domestic violence prior to losing their housing, said Rayner, who serves as Chief Impact Officer for a San Francisco-based housing and safety nonprofit called Community Forward. Why, then, don’t we see that connection making headlines? Research conducted by Berkeley Media Studies Group, in partnership with the Housing Opportunities Mean Everything (HOME) Cohort, confirms Community Forward’s observation that the news media usually report on housing and domestic violence as separate issues. Our study, forthcoming May 30, found extremely limited news coverage that made explicit connections between the two issues. Community Forward is striving to shift the narrative surrounding these issues, not only to help the public see them as intertwined, but also to demonstrate why addressing homelessness and domestic violence matters for everyone. Community Forward seeks to expand the public’s understanding of homelessness — specifically as a women’s issue and, broadly, as a systemic failure and a crisis of inequity. The connection between homelessness and domestic violence is also apparent in who is most harmed: Black, Latine and Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected by homelessness, and Black, Latine, Indigenous and Asian communities experience high rates of domestic violence. Although Community Forward does not define itself as a domestic violence organization, the interconnection of housing and domestic violence means that Community Forward’s work — both on the organizing front and the messaging front — must address both issues simultaneously. They do so by centering women. “We believe that we’re going to revitalize and we’re going to bring our city back,” Rayner said. “And if we’re going to do that, we need to do it together, and women should be at the heart of it. Women create community. Women prioritize safety. Women are innovators and are resilient. And if we invest in women, we think that’s going to make [the biggest difference].” That is the mindset that Community Forward staff bring to their work, whether they are connecting a resident with transitional housing, providing trauma-informed support and case management, or describing their safety-net services to a reporter. While there is still a dearth of coverage connecting domestic violence and the lives of people who are unhoused, some successes of narrative change work — at Community Forward and beyond — are clear in the San Francisco Chronicle‘s coverage of these intersecting issues. “Unhoused women must confront challenges from how to afford tampons to how to protect their bodies. Many survive abuse that pushes them into homelessness, while others are assaulted living on the streets or inside city homelessness facilities,” an article from August 2023 reads. More recently, The Chronicle covered a UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative study that found that experiencing domestic violence increases the risk of homelessness for survivors, specifically for women who have very little financial means. To learn more about Community Forward’s approach to narrative change work, BMSG spoke with Rayner and Felicia Torrez, the organization’s Director of Development. Below are five lessons from Community Forward, which can be applied to advocacy efforts in housing, violence, and beyond. Recommendations for advocates on changing the narrative 1. Position individual stories as examples of systemic failure — and opportunities for systemic solutions Community Forward stressed the importance of showing how systems shape individual stories. Staff members work collaboratively across teams to ensure their storytelling efforts highlight a person’s lived experience and situate it within the broader context of the housing crisis. “Having a really close dialogue between who’s doing your media and your storytelling and your programs team [is important]. Felicia and I try to spend a lot of time with them so that our messaging is reflecting what we’re seeing on the ground,” Rayner said. Further, Community Forward employs a solutions-based approach to systemic failures that requires city-wide collaboration and community building. “We want to be part of the solution, not just for unhoused people, but [for] our community’s healing and safety,” Rayner said. 2. Elevate authentic voices Messengers matter in narrative change — it’s not just the words we say, but who gets to say them. In th... --- ## Worksheet: Message development URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/worksheet-message-development/ Type: publications Modified: 2024-02-02 Words: 19 > A resource to help advocates practice developing core components of a message and combining them into a cohesive statement. A resource to help advocates practice developing core components of a message and combining them into a cohesive statement. --- ## Media advocacy worksheet: Overall strategy URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/uploads-2024-02-overall_strategy_bmsg-pdf/ Type: publications Modified: 2024-02-02 Words: 117 > Before trying to get media attention for the issue you are working on — or determining what your message is going to be — you and your coalition need to... Before trying to get media attention for the issue you are working on — or determining what your message is going to be — you and your coalition need to have clarity in your overall advocacy goals, as well as the steps you will take to achieve them. Answering the questions in this worksheet will help you identify what information you need to move forward and what immediate steps you need to take. Think of this sheet as your primary guiding tool: Your media strategy and message strategy should derive from your overall strategy, so all your actions are in alignment with your advocacy goals. Download the worksheet > Download the Spanish version (Descarga la hoja de ejercicios) > --- ## Layers of strategy URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/uploads-2024-02-layers_of_strategy_bmsg-pdf/ Type: publications Modified: 2024-02-02 Words: 62 > This document outlines BMSG's four-stage approach to media advocacy planning, a process we call the layers of strategy. It follows the idea that message should never be first or foremost.... This document outlines BMSG’s four-stage approach to media advocacy planning, a process we call the layers of strategy. It follows the idea that message should never be first or foremost. Rather, the first and most important stage involves developing an overall strategy tied to an advocacy campaign’s specific policy goal. Media, message and media access strategies follow. --- ## Top 10 public health and social justice media bites of 2023 URL: https://www.bmsg.org/top-10-public-health-and-social-justice-media-bites-of-2023/ Type: post Modified: 2024-01-02 Words: 1609 > “We need to fight political despair wherever we find it.” — Jamelle Bouie It is an annual tradition at BMSG to curate a list of our favorite media bites from... “We need to fight political despair wherever we find it.” — Jamelle Bouie It is an annual tradition at BMSG to curate a list of our favorite media bites from the year. As our staff reads countless news articles and social media posts, sometimes we encounter quotes so moving that we write them down and return to them later for deeper consideration. These media bites serve as an opportunity to reflect on the year’s triumphs, hardships, and losses through a public health lens. They also underscore the role communication plays in advancing our collective well-being. Above all, this list is our own way of combatting despair. It reminds us that advocates everywhere are fighting to make our world better. 2023 has brought its own set of challenges for public health advocates to tackle. It has been the hottest year in recorded history, spurring climate action across the world, often led by the young people whose futures are so deeply at stake. Reproductive justice activists have fought to protect and expand abortion access and support maternal health in the post-Roe era, winning elections in Ohio, Kentucky, and Virginia. Still, many continue to suffer at the hands of that fateful Supreme Court decision. Income inequality has worsened, housing has become more expensive, and ever-rising interest rates have made it harder for borrowers. Newsrooms continue to wrestle with difficult questions, like how to responsibly report on the violence in Gaza and beyond, and how to evolve past traditional notions of objectivity as journalism diversifies to better reflect our world. This year has taught us that the challenges we face, our lives, and our futures are deeply intertwined. See below for our Top 10 media bites for 2023, and why we like them so much. “There’s actually no way that one side is going to win,” she said. “Our futures are intertwined and the only way that we can keep ourselves alive is by keeping each other alive.” -Libby Lenkinski, vice president at the New Israel Fund, an organization that supports Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups. Appeared Nov. 17, 2023 in The New York Times. Why we like it: This quote highlights the value of interconnection. It shows that when we “other” people, we don’t just hurt them, we hurt ourselves. “More and more journalists of color and younger white reporters, including LGBTQ+ people, in increasingly diverse newsrooms believe that the concept of objectivity has prevented truly accurate reporting informed by their own backgrounds, experiences and points of view.” –Leonard Downie Jr., former executive editor of The Washington Post and professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. Appeared Jan. 30, 2023 in The Washington Post. Why we like it: As increasingly diverse journalists are faced with news that often threatens their very identities, shifting away from the concept of objectivity towards transparency and truth informed by life experience only enhances the credibility of reporters and the industry at large. Further, “objectivity” is often an incomplete or narrow version of the truth that upholds the status quo and — intentionally or not — silences other voices and perspectives. “The decision and its aftermath have freed people to acknowledge — or even shocked them into realizing — that a civilized country requires access to abortion. It is possible, and I’ll even be bold enough to say that it is probable, that in Roe v. Wade’s constitutional death lies the political resurrection of the right to abortion.” -Linda Greenhouse, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Appeared Jan. 18, 2023 in The New York Times. Why we like it: Despite the tragic overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022, 2023 has revitalized the reproductive justice movement, with many states voting to protect their constituents’ right to abortion. Ohioans, for example, voted to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution this year. This quote instills hope for future victories and elevates the tenacity and strong political will of advocates. “I don’t need to see yet another Black body splayed on my timeline to know that police brutality is real, and neither should anyone else. Black people shouldn’t have to suffer the further indignity of having their dying moments broadcast to a world that isn’t going to do anything about it anyway.” –Tayo Bero, Columnist. Appeared Jan. 31, 2023 in The Guardian. Why we like it: This quote reminds us of the terror of police violence in Black communities and invites readers to contemplate an ongoing debate within journalism about where the line should be drawn between truth and voyeurism. While showing too little can draw criticism of censorship, showing too much, as this writer points out, risks exploiting, dehumanizing, and even retraumatizing entire communities. “Instead of pushing culture wars and partisanship, lawmakers should focus on the 800 people dying each day from poverty in the wealthiest nation on earth. Our p... --- ## Join BMSG at APHA 2023 URL: https://www.bmsg.org/join-bmsg-at-apha-2023/ Type: post Modified: 2024-02-22 Words: 1048 > This year’s American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting & Expo — “Creating the Healthiest Nation: Overcoming Social and Ethical Challenges” — exemplifies public health practitioners’ and advocates’ ultimate goal amid... This year’s American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting & Expo — “Creating the Healthiest Nation: Overcoming Social and Ethical Challenges” — exemplifies public health practitioners’ and advocates’ ultimate goal amid current threats from rampant climate change, violence, and inequity. Despite the enormity of these challenges, the theme also offers hope and points to opportunities to strengthen our public infrastructure so that we can tackle these and other pressing issues together. To bolster advocates’ efforts to make a more effective case for creating safe, equitable, healthy communities, BMSG will be presenting findings from our research on how the news characterizes a range of issues, from anti-hunger programs to the intersection of domestic violence and homelessness. Knowing how issues appear in the media offers advocates a window into how the public and policymakers are likely to understand social problems and what we can do to address them. It can also inform advocates’ communication strategies and help journalists tell a more complete story about the social and environmental context for health. We hope you’ll be able to join us at APHA, Nov. 12-15 in Atlanta, or view our sessions virtually. See below for detailed session information, and engage with us online using #APHA2023. Session details for other Public Health Institute programs can be found on PHI’s website and on X (formerly Twitter) at #phiAPHA. Safe at home: News coverage about domestic violence and homelessness in California, and opportunities to build narrative power Monday, Nov. 13, 8:30 a.m. ET Homelessness and domestic violence (DV) are inextricably linked, but they’re not always understood that way, in part because communicating about the intersections of such complex topics can be challenging. Narratives that frame these politically fraught issues as distinct and intractable can limit how they are understood by policymakers and the public. Berkeley Media Studies Group has partnered with the Housing Opportunities Mean Everything (HOME) Cohort to identify and explore opportunities for narrative change in California. In this session led by Sarah Perez-Sanz, media researcher at BMSG, we will lay a foundation to help advocates begin to shift the narrative about why addressing homelessness and DV matters for everyone. View the presentation slides. The news about rollover protective structures: Findings from an analysis of news from Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri Monday, Nov. 13, 2:30 p.m. ET Tractor rollovers are the leading cause of death among farmers. Rollover protective structures (ROPS) — bars or cabs installed above the seats on tractors manufactured before 1985 — prevent death and severe injury and, when used with a seatbelt, they are 99% effective in preventing fatalities from tractor overturns. Yet, these structures remain underused, partly because of a lack of public investment. Access to ROPS represents a health equity issue, as smaller farms with fewer resources are more likely to be using older tractors on uneven or hilly farmland, and small farms are particularly affected by cost as a barrier to installing ROPS. This session, presented by BMSG Media Researcher Sarah Perez-Sanz, will discuss how public health practitioners can work with the news media to build understanding of the risks of farming and how ROPS can prevent death or injury. With more news attention, policymakers could turn their attention to farm safety policies, such as ROPS, that are key to improving community health. View the poster. Equity in Action? Assessing the role of community in declarations of racism as a public health crisis Tuesday, Nov. 14, 8:30 a.m. ET Pamela Mejia, BMSG’s associate program director and director of research, and Sarah Perez-Sanz, media researcher at BMSG, will present findings from a series of surveys, learning circles, and media analyses to examine the extent to which community basebuilding organizations (CBOs) played a role in declarations of racism as a public health crisis. The media analysis looked at which declarations were included in media coverage and how communities took part in calling for and implementing change. This session will provide an opportunity to discuss how to authentically center community in political processes and the news, based on findings from government representatives, CBOs, and the media analysis. View the presentation slides. Those who need it most: Equity framing in 2021 U.S. print news about food assistance Tuesday, Nov. 14, 12:30 p.m. ET Food assistance has been part of the U.S. social safety net for decades, although not without controversy over who should receive benefits and in what form. These issues became even more significant with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many Americans relied on food assistance programs. Our research found that, although marginalized groups were disproportionately impacted by food insecurity during the pandemic, the news media rarely fr... --- ## Caregiver Narrative Project: Caregiving as an act of resistance and a common good URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/caregiver-narrative-project-caregiving-as-an-act-of-resistance-and-a-common-good/ Type: publications Modified: 2024-02-06 Words: 123 > Caregiving — both paid and unpaid — is critical to the function of our society. But how does the public perceive this vital act? Berkeley Media Studies Group investigated narratives... Caregiving — both paid and unpaid — is critical to the function of our society. But how does the public perceive this vital act? Berkeley Media Studies Group investigated narratives surrounding caregiving in collaboration with the California Work & Family Coalition, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. We identified themes across the media, nonprofits, and care sector, including the invisibility of caregiving, how that invisibility is rooted in racism and gender oppression, and tensions between notions of caregiving as an individual problem versus a shared societal responsibility for the common good. These findings later informed a series of learning circles aimed at shifting the culture around caregiving. This report documents documents the lessons learned from those discussions and outlines next steps for advocates. --- ## Pro- and anti-tax framing in news articles about California sugar-sweetened beverage tax campaigns from 2014-2018 URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/pro-and-anti-tax-framing-in-news-articles-about-california-sugar-sweetened-beverage-tax-campaigns-from-2014-2018/ Type: publications Modified: 2023-10-13 Words: 1119 > Authors: Kim Garcia, Pamela Mejia, Sarah Perez-Sanz, Lori Dorfman, Kristine Madsen & Dean Schillinger Abstract Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) contribute to illness, especially among marginalized communities and children targeted by the... Authors: Kim Garcia, Pamela Mejia, Sarah Perez-Sanz, Lori Dorfman, Kristine Madsen & Dean Schillinger Abstract Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) contribute to illness, especially among marginalized communities and children targeted by the beverage industry. SSB taxes can reduce consumption, illness burden, and health inequities, while generating revenue for health programs, and as one way to hold the industry responsible for their harmful products and marketing malpractices. Supporters and opponents have debated SSB tax proposals in news coverage — a key source of information that helps to shape public policy debates. To learn how four successful California-based SSB tax campaigns were covered in the news, we conducted a content analysis, comparing how SSB taxes were portrayed. We found that pro-tax arguments frequently reported data to expose the beverage industry’s outsized campaign spending and emphasize the health harms of SSBs, often from health professionals. However, pro-tax arguments rarely described the benefits of SSB taxes, or how they can act as a tool for industry accountability. By contrast, anti-tax arguments overtly appealed to values and promoted misinformation, often from representatives from industry-funded front groups. As experts recommend additional SSB tax proposals, and as the industry mounts legislative counter-tactics to prevent them, advocates should consider harnessing community representatives as messengers and values-based messages to highlight the benefits of SSB taxes. Sugar-sweetened beverages are the largest source of added sugar in the American diet and contribute to higher risks of diet-related diseases such as diabetes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). SSBs are affordable and more readily available in vending machines, fast food establishments, and supermarkets than healthier options (Rehm, Matte, Van Wye, Young, & Frieden, 2008). SSBs maintain their popularity through the beverage industry’s aggressive marketing, supported by enormous budgets (Wood et al., 2021). Evidence shows that the industry intentionally targets communities of color (Dowling, Roberts, Adjoian, Farley, & Dannefer, 2020) – including children and youth (Powell, Hearris, & Fox, 2013) – and profits from unregulated, racialized marketing practices (Barnhill et al., 2022). These unchecked practices worsen health outcomes, especially for lower-income communities and communities of color (Roesler, Rojas, & Falbe, 2021). Several studies have established the link between added sugars and diet-related diseases, and many experts recommend the use of excise taxes on SSBs to reduce consumption and generate revenue for health programs (Brownell et al., 2009; Malik & Hu, 2022). Multiple states and localities across the U.S. have attempted — and failed — to pass SSB taxes between 2008 and 2014. These campaigns shed light on the beverage industry’s aggressive lobbying and tactics to oppose SSB taxes. The industry has protected its interests by using the media to undermine science (Du, Tugendhaft, Erzse, & Hofman, 2018) and to portray itself as an advocate for social and racial justice by funding front groups that create the appearance of community-based public opposition (Berkeley Media Studies Group, 2007; Nixon, Mejia, Cheyne, & Dorfman, 2015). Between 2014 and 2018, four California cities (Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland, and Albany) led successful campaigns to impose excise taxes on SSBs to improve public health and hold the beverage industry responsible for their contributions to health inequities (Madsen, 2020). These taxes, levied on SSB distributors, aim to reduce disease risk and raise revenue for local government programs that support the health of their population. We now know that the revenue generated from these taxes has been allocated for health and social initiatives, including universal pre-kindergarten, job training, healthy food access, and emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic (Krieger, Magee, Hennings, Schoof, & Madsen, 2021; University of Washington, 2022). In addition, such taxes have been shown to reduce purchasing and consumption of SSBs (Petimar, Gibson, & Roberto, 2022; Roberto et al., 2019). To date, three other cities in the United States and the Diné (Navajo) Nation and more than 50 countries around the world have instituted SSB taxes, suggesting they are an increasingly important and accepted tool in the public health toolbox. In response, since 2017, the beverage industry has employed preemption as a legislative strategy to encourage state governments to prohibit local government tax initiatives (Crosbie, Pomeranz, Wright, Hoeper, & Schmidt, 2021). Supporters and opponents have debated SSB tax proposals in news outlets, which are a key source of information for the public and registered voters. News coverage provides an important window into the public discourse because journalists’ decisions about whether to cover an issue can raise its profile, while issues tha... --- ## Equity in action: Assessing the role of community in declarations of racism as a public health crisis URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/equity-in-action-assessing-the-role-of-community-in-declarations-of-racism-as-a-public-health-crisis/ Type: publications Modified: 2023-09-29 Words: 133 > What role did community base-building organizations (CBOs) play in advancing declarations of racism as a public health crisis? And how were those declarations were covered in the media? In this... What role did community base-building organizations (CBOs) play in advancing declarations of racism as a public health crisis? And how were those declarations were covered in the media? In this brief, we answer those questions and present additional findings from a series of surveys, Learning Circles, and media analyses designed by The Praxis Project and Berkeley Media Studies Group. We examined the community’s involvement in writing, passing, and implementing the declarations; we mapped, categorized, and assessed news coverage about declarations from across the country, focusing on how community voices and perspectives appeared; and we examined how proponents of the declarations are framing their work. Based on this research, we also provide recommendations derived from government representatives and CBOs on how to authentically center community in political processes. Download the report > --- ## Blue Shield of California Foundation Webinar: Exploring the intersection between domestic violence and homelessness URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/blue-shield-of-california-foundation-webinar-exploring-the-intersection-between-domestic-violence-and-homelessness/ Type: events Modified: 2023-08-24 Words: 122 > Through a partnership with the Blue Shield of California Foundation, Berkeley Media Studies Group's Ingrid Daffner Krasnow, Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Kim Garcia conducted a webinar to explore how the... Through a partnership with the Blue Shield of California Foundation, Berkeley Media Studies Group’s Ingrid Daffner Krasnow, Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Kim Garcia conducted a webinar to explore how the intersection of domestic violence and homelessness are portrayed in the news. The webinar drew over a hundred registrants and served as an opportunity for advocates and journalists to gather and learn how strategic communication can help advance policy goals related to these two inextricably linked issues. Media researcher Kim Garcia walked participants through an in-depth news analysis while Krasnow and Martinez Cuestas tackled media and message strategy. Webinar attendees were invited to attend a smaller, follow-up interactive training to focus on answering difficult questions, pivoting and media interviewing. --- ## Equity in action: How communities can drive implementation of declarations of racism as a public health crisis URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/equity-in-action-how-communities-can-drive-implementation-of-declarations-of-racism-as-a-public-health-crisis/ Type: events Modified: 2023-08-28 Words: 239 > The Collaborative for Anti-Racism & Equity (CARE) hosted a webinar on the work being done to support and address the role of community declarations of racism as a public health... The Collaborative for Anti-Racism & Equity (CARE) hosted a webinar on the work being done to support and address the role of community declarations of racism as a public health crisis. BMSG’s Hina Mahmood and Pamela Mejia presented their findings from a media analysis that showed how the declarations of racism as a public health crisis were presented in the news, whose perspectives dominated the coverage, and if the news portrayed community playing an active role in the policy process. Presenters also discussed key topics such as: Barriers to achieving racial equity How governmental programs to achieve racial equity comply with the 14th Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Community involvement in declarations of racism as a public health crisis and identifying opportunities for community to be authentically centered in political processes Limitations and opportunities for narrative change in news coverage of policy efforts to declare racism a public health crisis The history of declarations and their role in public health American Public Health Association’s racism declarations tracking map Other presenters included: Catherine Labiran, The Praxis Project Lawrence Haynes, American Public Health Association Dawn Hunter, Network for Public Health Law Camara Jones, O’Neill-Lancet Commission on Racism, Structural Discrimination, and Global Health Crystal Lewis, The Institute for Healing, Justice & Equity Ruqaiijah Yearby, The Institute for Healing, Justice & Equity View the full webinar recording and related resources here. --- ## Who counts as an expert? Rethinking which sources — and solutions — are featured in news coverage URL: https://www.bmsg.org/who-counts-as-an-expert-rethinking-which-sources-and-solutions-are-featured-in-news-coverage/ Type: post Modified: 2023-08-23 Words: 969 > No matter how severe a problem, statistics don’t speak for themselves. Reporters must continually work to find sources who can help interpret the data — and humanize it. To do... No matter how severe a problem, statistics don’t speak for themselves. Reporters must continually work to find sources who can help interpret the data — and humanize it. To do so, BMSG often recommends that journalists connect with sources who we refer to as “authentic voices” — those whose stories are grounded in lived experience. Time and again, we see their impact, from niche outlets to national newspapers to lifestyle magazines. For example, this article from Vogue shows how policy decisions made by people with power shape the lives of those without it. By highlighting the stories of five individuals who terminated their pregnancies, the author also helps to decrease the stigma surrounding medication abortion following the end of Roe v. Wade. Yet, as compelling as these sources with lived experience can be, they often leave out another key aspect of responsible journalism that BMSG urges reporters to include: systemic solutions. Examining problems without also exploring solutions is “like pointing out your children’s mistakes every morning and then expecting that they’ll become better people,” David Bornstein, co-founder of Solutions Journalism Network, once wrote in a blog for Greater Good. The omission is hardly surprising. BMSG research over three decades has found that both authentic voices and solutions are underrepresented in coverage of public health issues. Our research since the start of the pandemic has revealed another nuance: When authentic voices or solutions are included, they appear separate from each other. In other words, stories that quoted community members focused mostly on the problem side of the equation, highlighting personal hardships and, at times, triumphant comebacks. Similarly, when solutions were discussed, they did not come from people whose opinions were formed from direct experience; instead, they came mostly from government or business officials. This pattern held true across news coverage of many topics including food assistance, housing and health equity, racism as a public health crisis, and our country’s recovery from COVID. The most telling data came from stories about how racism harms health: 92% of articles quoted government leaders, yet only 24% of articles quoted community members. And while our researchers found that journalists often described “regular people” as collective agents of change, with 4 out of 10 articles mentioning community-led calls for racial justice, fewer than 2 out of 10 articles showed the role that community members played in passing and implementing actual declarations of racism as a public health crisis. By contrast, the issue areas our team studied yielded only the rarest examples of authentic voices being positioned as experts in other coverage. In stories about housing, for example, personal information from unhoused people only tended to evoke pity or fear, and unhoused people were rarely quoted speaking about solutions or advocating for change. Our findings from news about the pandemic were even more bleak: Though many articles published in 2021 focused on the national goal of “recovering from the pandemic,” people who had been directly affected by job losses and other issues during COVID — including frontline workers — were largely absent from these stories. Instead, representatives from businesses large and small were overwhelmingly quoted. The dearth of these perspectives in the news could make it difficult to see the need for a sustained recovery that goes beyond helping the business sector. Why do journalists believe that people with lived experience should be strictly interviewed as victims? Why shouldn’t the people with the most direct experience of a problem have a loud voice in solving it? Recommendations Ultimately, amplifying community members’ voices and positioning them as experts who ought to have input into solving problems may be more of an organizing task than a communication directive. However, communication opportunities are often embedded in organizing. For example, advocates could connect journalists to more authentic voices so the sources in their stories speak from real experience. Similarly, advocacy organizations could provide media advocacy training to their constituents so they are prepared to be sources for reporters. Additionally, reporters can rethink what makes a source credible and what makes a particular angle newsworthy in the first place. “Why do we believe that when people cause or exacerbate problems it’s newsworthy, but when people respond thoughtfully to problems it’s not?” asked the Solutions Journalism Network’s Bornstein in an opinion piece for The New York Times. “There’s no rule book that I am aware of that says journalism should focus primarily on bad stuff.” We agree and would take that sentiment a step further, asking: Why do journalists believe that people with lived experience should be strictly interviewed as victims? Why shouldn’t the people with the most direct experience of a prob... --- ## Youth Alive: Teens on Target URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/youth-alive-teens-on-target/ Type: events Modified: 2023-08-21 Words: 152 > Berkeley Media studies group trainers Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Rosaura Wardsworth traveled to Youth Alive’s Oakland office to deliver a spokesperson training in person to their Teens on Target program... Berkeley Media studies group trainers Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Rosaura Wardsworth traveled to Youth Alive’s Oakland office to deliver a spokesperson training in person to their Teens on Target program participants. This four-hour training centered on building capacity among Youth Alive’s Teens on Target youth leaders to communicate effectively about their violence prevention work with the news media. Martinez Cuestas and Wardsworth covered topics from navigating difficult questions to developing values focused messages that would inspire the group’s targets. Many of the teens within the training had practice giving media interviews and speaking at the capitol about violence within the Oakland area. This real life experience created the perfect opportunity for teens to learn about interviewing and public speaking from each other. Which fostered a train the trainer environment that led to healthy debates and conversation. --- ## Missouri Foundation for Health: Communicating effectively about firearm suicide prevention URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/missouri-foundation-for-health-communicating-effectively-about-firearm-suicide-prevention/ Type: events Modified: 2023-10-11 Words: 368 > The Missouri Foundation for Health was created in the year 2000, following Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri’s conversion from nonprofit to for-profit status. It is the largest organization of... The Missouri Foundation for Health was created in the year 2000, following Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri’s conversion from nonprofit to for-profit status. It is the largest organization of its kind in the state of Missouri and one of the largest in the country. MFH is committed to making lasting positive changes in health including but not limited to behavioral health, childhood obesity, infant mortality, and firearm suicide prevention. They are committed to eliminating inequities within all aspects of health and addressing the social and economic factors that shape health outcomes. BMSG is working with Missouri Foundation for Health grantees to help them develop and deliver strategic messages about firearm violence and suicide prevention, using framing that centers health equity and activates allies, from faith-based communities to veterans. On August 15, 2023, BMSG conducted the first training in a two part series. This virtual 2-hour introductory training was designed to help MFH grantees craft and deliver effective prevention messages. During the session, BMSG trainers Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Rosaura Wardsworth guided participants through hands-on exercises to practice message development and receive feedback. Early October 2023 Cuestas Martinez and Wardsworth flew to St. Louis, Missouri to meet the grantees in person at the Missouri Foundation for Health and take part in a two day convening that offered deep reflections on their firearm suicide prevention work over the past two years. The convening was filled with personal stories and encouragement from thought leaders across organizations. Wardsworth and Cuestas Martinez also offered the second training in the two part series, where they covered enhancing the grantees core messages with values-rich language, acknowledging negative feelings and showing success is possible. After enhancing their messages grantees were able to engage in mock interviews where they covered how to answer difficult questions, using plain language, pivoting, and avoiding elephant triggers. The training concluded with tips for speaking with a reporter as well as how to properly pitch a story. In September 2023 several grantees were contacted to take part in interviews for Suicide Awareness Month landing three grantees coverage in the Kansas City Beacon. This is an ongoing project for Berkeley Media Studies Group. --- ## ‘Those who need it the most’: Equity framing in 2021 U.S. print news about food assistance URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/those-who-need-it-the-most-equity-framing-in-2021-u-s-print-news-about-food-assistance/ Type: publications Modified: 2023-10-13 Words: 138 > Authors: Hina Mahmood, Pamela Mejia, Sarah B. Perez-Sanz, Kim Garcia, Sarah Gollust, Jeff Niederdeppe, Erika Fowler, Laura Baum, Breeze Floyd, and Lori E. Dorfman Abstract Objective: To understand how equity appeared... Authors: Hina Mahmood, Pamela Mejia, Sarah B. Perez-Sanz, Kim Garcia, Sarah Gollust, Jeff Niederdeppe, Erika Fowler, Laura Baum, Breeze Floyd, and Lori E. Dorfman Abstract Objective: To understand how equity appeared in news about food assistance from 2021. Methods: We assessed a national sample of news articles (N=298) for equity arguments and language about racial and health equity. Results: Only 28% of coverage argued that food assistance programs promote equity. Just 6% mentioned people of color or named racial disparities in food access. Discussion: Narratives that explain how food assistance programs reduce inequities could deepen their policy appeal and broaden public perceptions around recipients. Health Equity Implications: There are opportunities for news coverage to expand the discussion of how food assistance programs improve racial and health equity outcomes. View the full text >> --- ## We keep each other safe: An interactive communications guide about reducing and preventing gun violence URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/we-keep-each-other-safe-an-interactive-communications-guide-about-reducing-and-preventing-gun-violence/ Type: publications Modified: 2023-09-29 Words: 38 > The following resource is intended to support advocates in developing local campaigns and communication strategies to: share information about different options available to reduce harm from guns; inspire needed community... The following resource is intended to support advocates in developing local campaigns and communication strategies to: share information about different options available to reduce harm from guns; inspire needed community conversations; and empower survivors. Download the guide > --- ## From fear, division, and scarcity to hope, unity, and abundance: Building narrative power over the long haul URL: https://www.bmsg.org/from-fear-division-and-scarcity-to-hope-unity-and-abundance-building-narrative-power-over-the-long-haul/ Type: post Modified: 2023-07-12 Words: 998 > Imagine loading a news website or turning on cable news and seeing stories that reflect values like inclusivity, shared power, and liberation — not the occasional headline, but a plethora... Imagine loading a news website or turning on cable news and seeing stories that reflect values like inclusivity, shared power, and liberation — not the occasional headline, but a plethora of them. Envision seeking out local broadcasts as a source of inspiration — a window into the hard work happening by neighbors and advocates in your own community. After news about the Supreme Court’s recent decisions to dismantle affirmative action, reduce civil rights for LGBTQ+ individuals, and uphold financial obstacles that make it harder for people to attend college, that might seem like a fantasy. Stories of fear, division, and scarcity surround us, drain our energy, and can make social issues seem intractable. Despite this reality, uplifting, solutions-focused stories — ones that offer an alternative narrative of hope, unity, and abundance — do exist. Right now, they are the exception rather than the norm, but we can create more of these building blocks toward long-term narrative change, in support of health for all people, regardless of where they live, what they look like, or who they love. So, how do we go about creating narratives that reflect and reinforce public health values? When groups have narrative power, they wield more than just strong messages. They are able to tell their own stories, define what’s true, and shape values, beliefs, and policies across every sector and institution. These narratives appear in everything from classroom textbooks to church sermons to museums; they get replicated in legislation, company practices and procedures, and even judicial decisions; and they are amplified in the media, becoming the water that we swim in. Although narrative power goes beyond news production, focusing on the media is nevertheless an effective way to put forward a vision for the kinds of communities we want to live in — ones where people feel valued and have the support they need to live healthy, fulfilled lives. We know it’s possible to do this because public health advocates and practitioners have already transformed the narrative landscape surrounding one of the field’s biggest challenges: tobacco. Understanding the history of tobacco control offers two key lessons: First, narratives aren’t fixed; they are mutable and can be changed, no matter how entrenched or toxic they are. Second, with a well-resourced infrastructure and clear goals, we can fight back and rewrite the narrative. Today, in most locations throughout the United States, people can fly on planes, eat in restaurants, and sit in a hospital lobby without much concern of encountering tobacco smoke. These regulations that now seem like common sense were once highly contested, in part because of changes in our media environment. During the early days of tobacco control, the industry and its neoliberal partners took control of the discourse and created personal responsibility arguments that demonized government actors and connected smoking to values like individual freedom and choice. Doing so effectively shielded Big Tobacco from criticism — and liability — for tobacco’s health consequences. After early public health efforts that focused on education, advocates and practitioners built an infrastructure to change the narrative. With help from journalists and filmmakers, we now have a narrative that elevates freedom from disease over freedom to smoke. These changes in framing didn’t just appear; they went hand-in-hand with shifts in power: Once the field of public health was able to gain support for strategies like passing excise taxes to tamp down smoking rates, public health agencies used taxes and other revenue to fund power-building work, including community organizing and policy advocacy, and media campaigns, at the local and state levels. Communication was included from the start instead of being an afterthought. By understanding changes in narrative power and infrastructure within the realm of tobacco control, we can apply similar strategies to enjoy lasting success with other issues. Today we regularly see messaging tactics, which are often ripped from Big Tobacco’s playbook, emerge in public debates about a range of social issues. These include college education (with strong appeals to individual responsibility for loan repayment); LGBTQ+ rights (with religious freedom being used as a shield to allow the erosion of civil rights); affirmative action (with messages that ignore the role of history in shaping current racial disparities); and so much else, from the COVID-19 pandemic to immigration to taxes on sugary drinks. What, then, does narrative power-building look like beyond tobacco control? On the advocacy side, we are privileged to partner with people doing the hard but essential on-the-ground organizing to make sure that those most affected by an issue are the ones with the most influential voices across a broad spectrum of issues, from health and racial equity to violence prevention and more. On the media infrastructure side, g... --- ## No one left behind: My Latino experience with media representation, erasure, and access URL: https://www.bmsg.org/no-one-left-behind-my-latino-experience-with-media-representation-erasure-and-access/ Type: post Modified: 2023-05-25 Words: 1030 > When I was in fourth grade, my dad picked me and my siblings up from school one day because of a raging storm. My father is an outdoor laborer and... When I was in fourth grade, my dad picked me and my siblings up from school one day because of a raging storm. My father is an outdoor laborer and has been since he came to the United States in his early 20s. Even today, my siblings and I know that poor weather conditions mean he gets a well-earned day off. We rushed into the car, avoiding the rain. On our way home, my father asked us (in Spanish), “Guess what I cooked today? I’ll give you a clue, it starts with an N.” “Nachos? Noodles? Nuggets?” we blurted with increasing curiosity. After a few minutes he told us, “Nope, nope, nope. Fine, I’ll tell you guys… Enchiladas!” My siblings and I regularly tease our dad, since a large part of his personality is his humor and intentional immaturity. This incident was different. While I knew that he had not received a full education back in Mexico, this was the first time I realized that my father was illiterate. Unfortunately, my dad is just one of millions of people whose illiteracy keeps him disconnected from technology and the media. What’s more, his ethnicity has resulted in erasure and underrepresentation. Elevating Latino experiences and voices Earlier this spring, I began working with Berkeley Media Studies Group. This was my first time fully immersing myself in media and communications, and I was excited to learn about the powerful ways that media can impact communities. Only a few days into my internship, I was invited to a webinar titled “Elevating Latino Experiences and Voices in News About Racial Equity: Findings and Recommendations for More Complete Coverage,” which shared new research regarding the representation of people just like me. BMSG’s research, conducted in collaboration with UnidosUS, the country’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization, showed me that the type of impact the media has on one’s community depends on your identity. In this case, the numbers were telling me that I held less power than I deserved. The researchers found that Latinos were only referenced in 5.6% of news articles centered on racism and racial justice. To make matters worse, the small percentage of coverage that referenced Latinos did not show how we add value to our country; rather, articles focused mostly on problems, while only 40% of them discussed solutions. With only 11% of news analysts, reporters, and journalists being considered Latino, this fuels a lack of diversity in our media, which we know plays a major role in framing public issues and shaping public conversations. This research reinforced my experience of erasure as a Latino growing up in the Midwest. I only ever felt represented in spaces that I either created or sought out. In both high school and college, I had to escape my imposter syndrome by joining and sustaining student organizations intended to make me feel welcome. While I am grateful for those spaces, I realize how temporary they can be and how much effort I had to put in to maintain them. To this point, I still ask myself: When will feeling represented be my norm? Recommendations As part of BMSG’s collaboration with UnidosUS, the organizations were intentional in providing recommendations for journalists, advocates, and others who are interested in creating more inclusive news narratives. Some solutions include: Expand and integrate authentic voices to diversify newsroomsThe diversity of newsroom staff is important because it helps to ensure that news coverage is more accurate, relevant, and reflective of the communities they serve. When newsroom staff are diverse and represent a range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, they are better equipped to identify and report on stories that are relevant and important to diverse audiences. Furthermore, having a diverse newsroom can also help to bring new and unique ideas to foster a culture of innovation and creativity. Bridge the representation gap, making sure to uplift Latino individuals and organizationsThis is important for promoting equity and inclusion in the media industry. When Latino individuals and organizations are represented in the media, it helps to counteract historical and ongoing underrepresentation and marginalization. This can lead to a more accurate and diverse portrayal of the Latino community and help amplify our voices and perspectives. Uplifting Latino individuals and organizations in the media can have positive economic and social impacts. It can lead to increased employment and business opportunities in the media industry and can also contribute to a more vibrant and diverse media landscape. Create strategic messages that explicitly frame inequities facing Latinos as racial equity issues, while incorporating a solution-oriented approach.Framing inequities facing Latinos as racial equity issues acknowledges the role of systemic racism and structural inequalities in perpetuating these inequities. This can help to create a shared understanding among audiences of the root causes of these issues an... --- ## The news about rollover protective structures: Findings from an analysis of news from Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/the-news-about-rollover-protective-structures-findings-from-an-analysis-of-news-from-iowa-nebraska-kansas-and-missouri/ Type: publications Modified: 2023-10-11 Words: 133 > Rollover protective structures (ROPS) can prevent fatal tractor overturns, a leading cause of death among farmers. Despite proven success, ROPS — and programs to make them more widely available to... Rollover protective structures (ROPS) can prevent fatal tractor overturns, a leading cause of death among farmers. Despite proven success, ROPS — and programs to make them more widely available to farmers — are all but absent from news coverage in key agricultural states, a news analysis, published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, found. This represents a missed opportunity to demonstrate to policymakers the importance of establishing and maintaining funding to prevent the most frequent cause of death on farms. Without an increase in ROPS utilization and improved access to prevention programs, farmers, especially low-income farmers, will remain at disproportionate risk for death and injury. Authors: Sarah B. Perez-Sanz, Kim Garcia, Pamela Mejia, Lori Dorfman, Jessica Echard, Julie A. Sorensen, Pamela J. Milkovich Available from: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.23490 --- ## Connecting housing justice, health, and journalism: A guide for Bay Area news reporters URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/toolkit-connecting-housing-justice-health-and-journalism/ Type: publications Modified: 2024-03-13 Words: 73 > Today’s housing climate is the result of centuries of history, policies, and practices. To move forward, we must acknowledge the past and how it shapes our lives today. Read more... Today’s housing climate is the result of centuries of history, policies, and practices. To move forward, we must acknowledge the past and how it shapes our lives today. Read more on how journalists can uncover the roots of housing and health inequities and elevate solutions for social justice, in this new guide from the Council of Community Housing Organizations, the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative, and BMSG. Download the guide > --- ## UCSF Bixby – Communicating about reproductive health URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/ucsf-bixby-communicating-about-reproductive-health/ Type: events Modified: 2023-08-21 Words: 94 > BMSG trainer and strategic communication specialist Rosaura Wardsworth facilitated a virtual training for Bixby Media and Advocacy Fellows. This training was the first in a two-part series. Participants learned how... BMSG trainer and strategic communication specialist Rosaura Wardsworth facilitated a virtual training for Bixby Media and Advocacy Fellows. This training was the first in a two-part series. Participants learned how strategy is tied to media and communications work, how to recognize frames that support structural and policy change, how to incorporate racial and health equity into organizing and communication plans, and how to articulate values and speak plainly when communicating about reproductive health. The four fellows pictured here showed great enthusiasm and passion when articulating their messages and led with value focused language. --- ## The news about hunger revealed increased support for government assistance during COVID. Will it stay that way? URL: https://www.bmsg.org/the-news-about-hunger-revealed-increased-support-for-government-assistance-during-covid-will-it-stay-that-way/ Type: post Modified: 2023-07-14 Words: 1437 > I grew up in the rural Midwest well below the federal poverty line. Although we lived in a farming community, my parents had to get creative to make sure we... I grew up in the rural Midwest well below the federal poverty line. Although we lived in a farming community, my parents had to get creative to make sure we always had a meal on the table. Still, they never sought food assistance or signed me up for free school lunches because they worried the stigma would lead to bullying. My parents weren’t wrong to be concerned: Degrading stereotypes about people on welfare were a fixture of dominant U.S. culture during my childhood in the 80s — and once you’ve heard them enough, you start to believe them. So, my mom and dad, like many families facing similar circumstances, tried to create distance between ourselves and “other” poor people. We never talked openly about the “us-versus-them” narrative, but we feared it. Internalized it. Felt its shame. In 2020, widespread changes wrought by the pandemic began to chip away at that shame-filled narrative. As our country’s botched response to the virus threw millions of households into financial hardship, leaving people unable to afford basic necessities like food and rent, the longstanding “us-versus-them” mentality lost a lot of its power. Conversations across social media started to reflect this with popular memes like “We are in this together” and “We are not all in the same boat, but we are in the same storm.” We saw this shift mirrored in traditional news coverage: BMSG’s research on news from the first year of the pandemic showed that many stories evoked empathy for food assistance recipients, and framed them as “people like us.” We also found that there were no articles about food stamp fraud and abuse, topics that were prevalent before the pandemic. More recent research shows that this change in news coverage continued in the second year of the pandemic. To learn more about the changes unfolding, BMSG and our partners at the Collaborative on Media and Messaging for Health and Social Policy (COMM) analyzed broadcasts and stories about hunger that aired or were published between Jan. 1, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2021. The results confirmed our hunch: Stories about food stamp fraud were still rare, with references to such allegations appearing in only 6% of print articles and 3% of TV stories. Instead, our team found overwhelmingly positive portrayals of government, increased calls for a robust government role in alleviating hunger, and strong appeals to empathy. Families, in particular, were framed as needing food assistance and were mentioned in over 80% of print articles and almost half of TV clips in the context of emergency electronic benefit transfer (EBT) or providing school lunches during the pandemic. Media outlets continued to center government action in their stories, highlighting President Biden’s executive orders that expanded food assistance and increased the amount of benefits that people were eligible for. The narrative change was significant, giving advocates hope for a stronger social safety net over the long term. Finally, the public conversation around food assistance had less stigma. It seemed clearer that there is no them — it was always just us. But, as the COVID emergency ends and hunger-related benefits expire under the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, will shame and stigma return to the conversation? On one hand, headlines tell us that the hunger crisis continues (with 32 million people already receiving less food assistance), that older Americans are especially vulnerable, and that food benefit reductions are putting extra pressure on local food banks. On the other hand, we are already seeing conservative policy proposals to retract recent program expansions making the news, with headlines like: 1 in 4 could lose food stamps under a GOP bill. These states would be hit hardest; GOP eyes new work requirements for millions on Medicaid, food stamps; and Cuts to SNAP benefits will push millions over the hunger cliff. Without actively steering the narrative, these conservative proposals could shift news coverage about food assistance back toward a more stigmatized and less government-focused conversation about the programs — one that demonizes poor people and people of color. Fortunately, there are several steps advocates can take to advance their policy goals by communicating strategically through effective message development and delivery: Lead with values. If we want news outlets to maintain a broad frame that includes government accountability in stories about food assistance, we must start with a point of agreement: our values. As President Biden said in a TV clip that BMSG and COMM researchers analyzed, “These are not the values of our nation. We cannot and will not let people go hungry.” Values create space to approach the issue from a place of strength and optimism, rather than weakness or cynicism. In a time of great political division, many people are eager for messages that elevate interconnection and solidarity. Use an equity lens. An inclusive narrative about food assistance benefits everyone... --- ## P3 (Prevention Institute): Media advocacy training to advance park equity across the nation URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/p3-prevention-institute-media-advocacy-training-to-advance-park-equity-across-the-nation/ Type: events Modified: 2023-08-21 Words: 389 > People, Parks, and Power (P3) is the first national funding initiative in the U.S. to support power building by community-based organizations to reverse park and green space inequities in Black,... People, Parks, and Power (P3) is the first national funding initiative in the U.S. to support power building by community-based organizations to reverse park and green space inequities in Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities across the country. This initiative is led and managed by the Prevention Institute. P3 aims is to advance park and green space equity and in order to accomplish this goal they must think strategically. In this training, BMSG helped equip P3 grantees with storytelling and media advocacy skills needed to describe their work and the impact of their programs in a compelling way. Strategic communication requires communicators and storytellers to have a clear vision of what they want to change in the world, so they are better able to position their programs as main actors in creating that change. The online training pictured to the left was the first in a two-part series, the next training took place in person in Oakland, California. 14 grantee groups from across the nation met and focused on public speaking and communication strategy. Park equity is an issue that touches multiple communities and the P3 grantees work relentlessly to make sure that parks are accessible, not only in affluent areas, but all areas. Having safe and accessible parks creates a ripple effect that has the power to touch generations. The conference was filled with influential speakers like Taj James who spoke about the history and deeper meaning of parks and park equity. Grantees gathered across tables and practiced their media interviewing skills. Some had never had a media interview while others were more seasoned allowing for grantees a space to learn from each other. BMSG trainers Rosaura Wardsworth and Shaddai Martinez-Cuestas held space with grantees for a 2-hour training. Within the training grantees got the opportunity to ask questions about handling difficult questions as well as how to pitch newsworthy stories to reporters. Cuestas-Martinez took a moment during the training to break down the component of a message. Focusing heavily on values based messages with a clear solution. The conference was also filled with roundtable strategy sessions led by BMSG. The conference ultimately served as a safe space for grantees and consultants to gather and have a meeting of the minds, leaving all in attendance invigorated and excited for the years ahead. --- ## Strategic communication planning and media advocacy training with United Against Overdose URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/strategic-communication-planning-and-media-advocacy-training-with-united-against-overdose/ Type: events Modified: 2023-08-09 Words: 101 > In this virtual two-part strategic communication planning and media advocacy training, United Against Overdose worked with the BMSG staff to chart a path forward to expand overdose services and use... In this virtual two-part strategic communication planning and media advocacy training, United Against Overdose worked with the BMSG staff to chart a path forward to expand overdose services and use a harm reduction approach in Spanish and Mayan-speaking communities. This coalition was composed of leaders from UC Santa Cruz, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, NHC, and the DOPE project leaders all working hand in hand to bring much-needed resources to groups in the Bay Area. The training included hands-on activities designed to prepare coalition members to activate allies, craft compelling messages, and above all else be strategic. --- ## ROPS commentary — Addressing our fatal blind spot: Applying evidence-based solutions to reduce the most frequent cause of death on U.S. farms URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/rops-commentary-addressing-our-fatal-blind-spot-applying-evidence-based-solutions-to-reduce-the-most-frequent-cause-of-death-on-u-s-farms/ Type: publications Modified: 2023-10-11 Words: 216 > Tractor overturns are the most prominent contributing factor to death on U.S. farms and have been for decades. While public health researchers hypothesized years ago that overturn fatalities would largely... Tractor overturns are the most prominent contributing factor to death on U.S. farms and have been for decades. While public health researchers hypothesized years ago that overturn fatalities would largely disappear as older tractors were replaced by newer ones, this has not happened. In the meantime, farmers continue to die in these easily preventable and tragic events. Not only are tractor rollover protective structures (ROPS) 99% effective in preventing death in the event of an overturn, a national program exists to connect farmers with ROPS. While this program has been popular with farmers, and the cost-effectiveness of providing farmers with technical support and cost-sharing rebates has been demonstrated, many states lack access to ROPS rebates, even those states with the highest number of overturn fatalities. Given the evidence, it is difficult to reconcile the lack of policy or public investment in a solution that decisively addresses the most pernicious contributor to death in the agricultural industry. In this commentary, we highlight the science behind this proven solution to tractor overturns and the essential role that the media and implementation science can play in encouraging policy-makers to save lives. Authors: Julie A. Sorensen, Pamela J. Milkovich, Lori Dorfman, Pamela Mejia, Sarah B. Perez-Sanz Available from: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.23484 --- ## The Center (Asthma Mitigation Project): Strategic storytelling to communicate about asthma mitigation URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/the-center-asthma-mitigation-project-strategic-storytelling-to-communicate-about-asthma-mitigation/ Type: events Modified: 2023-03-22 Words: 176 > Storytelling can be a powerful way to elevate the service community health workers do to prevent, treat, and mitigate asthma. It can illustrate the impact of community-based health interventions. How... Storytelling can be a powerful way to elevate the service community health workers do to prevent, treat, and mitigate asthma. It can illustrate the impact of community-based health interventions. How we tell these stories can directly influence how audiences understand asthma, and what needs to be done about it. BMSG worked with grantees from the Asthma Mitigation Project to provide a foundation for storytelling as well as tools to develop strong and concise messages to enhance their stories. Grantees left this session with a host of examples to tell more holistic and ethical stories. Strategic storytelling requires that the storyteller has a clear vision of what they want to change in the world, so they are better able to position their programs as the main actors in creating that change. Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG), a project of the Public Health Institute is nationally recognized for helping advocates raise their voices and be heard on public health issues from park equity to housing. This training served as an opportunity to continue to amplify community voices. --- ## Elevating Latino experiences and voices in news about racial equity: Findings and recommendations for more complete coverage URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/elevating-latino-experiences-and-voices-in-news-about-racial-equity-findings-and-recommendations-for-more-complete-coverage/ Type: publications Modified: 2024-05-24 Words: 7650 > Introduction Every day, Latinos in the United States encounter — and work to dismantle — many forms of inequality. Latinos are disproportionately killed by police,1 face unaffordable rent and high... Introduction Every day, Latinos in the United States encounter — and work to dismantle — many forms of inequality. Latinos are disproportionately killed by police,1 face unaffordable rent and high risks of homelessness,2 and are more likely than non-Latino groups to experience hunger and material hardship,3 like difficulty paying bills. These are all racial injustices, rooted in fundamentally unequal systems and structures, but do we recognize them as such? And are connections between racial injustices and Latinos, the country’s largest ethnic minority, clear? Studying whether — and how — these issues appear in the news can give us answers. That’s because news institutions play a powerful role in shaping public conversations. Journalists provide both policymakers and the public with information on events, trends, social injustices, and other developments in our communities, the nation, and beyond. Knowing how issues are discussed in the media, then, gives us a baseline for understanding how people are — or aren’t — thinking about our world’s challenges, who is affected by them, and what solutions seem possible.4, 5, 6 Beyond telling stories, the news can be a powerful vehicle for positive social change. Carefully crafted news can uplift dignified and humanizing stories that reflect the power of communities whose perspectives have been excluded from history books. Too often, however, news coverage preserves, upholds, and weaponizes harmful, discriminatory, and racist narratives about people of color and marginalized communities.7 Without visibility, even the basic facts about how a societal issue affects Latinos may be lost. Furthermore, in the absence of inclusive news coverage, the contributions, challenges, and needs of Latino communities may be overlooked, or poorly understood, by policymakers, their allies in the fight for racial equity, and the public in general. For journalists to avoid causing — and compounding — harm, they must tell fair, accurate, and complete stories that feature a range of perspectives, including those of Latinos, across all reporting beats. Doing so is a critical step toward building and maintaining an inclusive, just, and transformative narrative about racial equity in the U.S. Fortunately, in recent years we’ve seen more awareness of and discussion about whether the people who tell our stories and catalog our history reflect the communities they represent. Yet, a large gap between discussion and positive action remains. Surveys from Pew Research Center have found that journalists rate the news industry poorly when it comes to diversity, especially for racial and ethnic groups.8 Indeed, according to a study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, only 11% of news analysts, reporters, and journalists are Latino.9 This lack of newsroom diversity harms news quality and employee morale, and research has shown that diverse newsrooms are more profitable10 — an important consideration amid continued budget cuts and industry layoffs. Journalists and reporters of color have long protested11 against the predominantly white and male lens of news coverage, and the culture of newsrooms themselves,12 by establishing advocacy groups, including the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Similarly, Latino+ communities and leaders have been at the forefront of organizing around racial equity for decades, but there is concern that their perspectives and voices are underrepresented in the surging public discourse around racial equity and systemic racism.13 To gain a window into the current state of public discourse surrounding racial equity and to identify opportunities for improvement, BMSG researchers, in consultation with UnidosUS, explored how Latino communities have been represented in national news about both racism and racial equity (including news about issues like inequities in wealth, housing, and health). We reviewed news published in both print and online national outlets. We studied the content, tone, and perspectives included in or excluded from news coverage and used our findings to make recommendations for journalists, advocates, and philanthropists to expand and deepen their understanding of racial equity and to improve news coverage of Latinos. Who we are Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG), a program of the Public Health Institute, was founded in 1993 and is dedicated to expanding the ability of public health professionals, journalists, and community groups to improve the systems and structures that determine health and safety. . We do this by helping people use the power of the media to make their voices heard and increase their participation in the democratic process. Our approach is grounded in three decades of examining — and working to shift — narratives around public health and social justice issues to achieve racial and health equity. UnidosUS is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that serves as the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organ... --- ## From invisibility to inclusion: Elevating Latino voices in news about racial equity URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/from-invisibility-to-inclusion-elevating-latino-voices-in-news-about-racial-equity/ Type: events Modified: 2023-03-16 Words: 222 > THIS EVENT HAS ENDED. Catch a recap here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQvlfOTENzw In recent years we’ve seen a surging public discourse in the news media around racial justice, as well as much-needed discussion... THIS EVENT HAS ENDED. Catch a recap here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQvlfOTENzw In recent years we’ve seen a surging public discourse in the news media around racial justice, as well as much-needed discussion about whether the people who tell our stories and catalog our history reflect the communities they represent. In a new report, UnidosUS and the Berkeley Media Studies Group explore findings that show the Latino voice and experience in news about racial equity have been largely left out of the news cycle. News coverage provides an important window into the public discourse about any issue. Editorial decisions about which topics to cover—and which to omit—influence whether an issue becomes part of public discussion or remains hidden from view. What’s more, the way issues are portrayed in the news affects how the public, policymakers, and allies in the fight for racial justice understand those issues, what to do about them, and — critically — who is affected by them. This panel discussion will dig into the presence and absence of Hispanics in coverage of racial equity issues, both as sources in stories and as news creators. We will examine the steps advocates, journalists, and newsroom leadership can take to ensure more nuanced, inclusive, and accurate coverage of racial equity issues in our multiracial society. --- ## What new research tells us about anti-fatness in media narratives: Q&A with NAAFA’s Tigress Osborn URL: https://www.bmsg.org/what-new-research-tells-us-about-anti-fatness-in-media-narratives-qa-with-naafas-tigress-osborn/ Type: post Modified: 2023-02-27 Words: 2289 > Over the last few years, changes in social media and content creation have led to a push to rethink which bodies we see as beautiful and healthy. The growth of... Over the last few years, changes in social media and content creation have led to a push to rethink which bodies we see as beautiful and healthy. The growth of self-created media platforms has allowed new publishers to thrive where they would otherwise have been shut out from traditional news outlets. Concepts like fat stigma, weight bias, and fat justice are gaining visibility, but is mainstream media catching up accordingly? New research from the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) and BMSG’s Head of Research, Pamela Meija, examined a year of media coverage around weight stigma and fat justice. Their findings indicate that there were astonishingly few articles covering fat justice, compared to thousands of articles focusing on weight loss and harmful framing surrounding fat people. This matters because media is a powerful tool to shape the way that policymakers and the general public think about weight, health, and fat people; in light of the current news narratives about fatness, it’s not surprising that so few states have protections in place against weight-based discrimination, or that being dismissed or shamed is a common experience for fat people simply seeking medical attention. BMSG sat down with NAAFA Board Chair and activist Tigress Osborn to discuss NAAFA and BMSG’s research findings. Tigress illuminated the various intersections that need to be acknowledged when discussing anti-fatness, discussed how the financial interests of pharmaceutical companies have influenced recent headlines regarding higher weight children, and shed light on how the recent release of Academy Award nominations for The Whale are reflective of the way that society and media view fat people. In her 14 years with NAAFA, Tigress has provided guidance for journalists who hope to improve their coverage of fat people and fat justice. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Q&A In the time that you’ve been involved with NAAFA, how do you think fat acceptance has changed? Do you feel like there has been progress? Or do you think it’s been regressive? It’s a really complicated answer because things are simultaneously better and worse. There’s a lot more fat visibility in the media, and more of that is self-created media in the form of blogs and social media, which means that fat people are in control of their own narrative. So that contributes to a wider variety of depictions of fat people in the media as a whole. … Part of what we’ve done with the research we’ve [conducted with BMSG] is measure the landscape. The outrageous difference in sheer volume of coverage of fat people, when we’re talking about weight loss or health versus when we’re talking about literally anything else about fat people, it’s a huge difference. And that’s still what it looks like in the mainstream media. And so what that means is that public opinion and government policies are still very much shaped by the major areas of media in which fat people are underrepresented or misrepresented at best and completely invisible or actively erased at worst. Public opinion and government policies are still very much shaped by the major areas of media in which fat people are underrepresented or misrepresented at best and completely invisible or actively erased at worst. In the research that NAAFA recently released with BMSG, did any of those findings surprise you? I expected there to be really disparate coverage, but I didn’t expect it to be that dramatically different. I am used to seeing a little bit better, a little bit more coverage of fat people because I’m looking at alternative media, especially self-created media. But it’s important for us to remember that policymakers don’t turn to your favorite fat girl’s blog, they turn to CNN, right? They turn to Newsweek; they turn to The New York Times. And I just think that really underscores the way that the news sources that are considered reputable could be doing better. The stories are out there, the sources are out there. The information is out there. So really the only explanation for why we are not doing better is we don’t care enough to be doing better. The stories are out there, the sources are out there. The information is out there. So really the only explanation for why we are not doing better is we don’t care enough to be doing better. When the media do cover weight, what type of conversation is currently being fostered? The mainstream media narrative is overly invested in talking about health, and almost always from the perspective of how fat is unhealthy with no acknowledgment of the research that shows that fat is healthy. Part of what’s challenging about that conversation is the general public thinks that’s organic. It’s actually a conversation that is very driven by weight loss interests and their funding, right? The fat rights movement is one of the most underfunded social justice [causes] in this country and globally. … The more there is media coverage of the idea... --- ## Introduction to media advocacy and strategic communications with UC Berkeley interdisciplinary MPH students URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/introduction-to-media-advocacy-and-strategic-communications-with-uc-berkeley-interdisciplinary-mph-students-2/ Type: events Modified: 2023-02-27 Words: 77 > In this virtual training with UC Berkeley School of Public Health interdisciplinary MPH (master's of public health) students, learned the fundamentals of media advocacy and strategic communications. BMSG staff taught... In this virtual training with UC Berkeley School of Public Health interdisciplinary MPH (master’s of public health) students, learned the fundamentals of media advocacy and strategic communications. BMSG staff taught students about the agenda-setting power of the news, how issues are framed by the media, how to align messages with solutions, and how to articulate values in messaging. The training also included an opportunity to practice delivering messages in highly engaging mock interview activities. --- ## ETR: Media advocacy training to support influencers in advancing health outcomes for African Americans URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/etr-media-advocacy-training-to-support-influencers-in-advancing-health-outcomes-for-african-americans/ Type: events Modified: 2023-02-22 Words: 195 > ETR (Education, Training and Research) is a national non-profit that is passionate about improving health and increasing opportunities for youth, families, and communities. By addressing, the ways health and education... ETR (Education, Training and Research) is a national non-profit that is passionate about improving health and increasing opportunities for youth, families, and communities. By addressing, the ways health and education outcomes are influenced by the complex interactions between people and their environment their hope is to promote equity and justice. This training was designed and led by trainers Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Rosaura Wardsworth. Martinez and Wardsworth worked with Historically Black College and University (HBCU) students participating in the Black Public Health Influencer Design Fellowship sponsored by ETR. The training centered around access to sexual health information and resources for the Black community through social media. Within a two-part series cohort members learned to solidify their overall strategy, craft values-based strategic messages, and deliver those messages in high-pressure settings such as going live on social media platforms, meetings with influencer, or decision makers. Trusted messengers are a key component in any message strategy. Who delivers the information can have a direct impact on who receives it and how it’s received. This ETR cohort left with tools to not only become more effective messengers for their community but for all communities. --- ## CARE: Communicating effectively about racial and health equity URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/care-communicating-effectively-about-racial-and-health-equity/ Type: events Modified: 2023-02-14 Words: 113 > The Collaborative for Anti-Racism and Equity (CARE) started as a group of partners all working to understand and support the movement to address racism as a public health crisis. In... The Collaborative for Anti-Racism and Equity (CARE) started as a group of partners all working to understand and support the movement to address racism as a public health crisis. In this two-day training, 3 BMSG staff led several CARE members and partners through an introduction to media advocacy and strategic communication fundamentals. Within a two-hour training, members learned to communicate effectively about health and racial equity and develop strategic messages to prepare for message delivery in high-stakes scenarios such as providing testimony, public comment, or a media interview. BMSG also provided a plethora of tools and resources so that all attendees could continue capacity building within their own organizations. --- ## All Children Thrive – Communication Plan Webinar URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/all-children-thrive-communication-plan-webinar/ Type: events Modified: 2023-02-01 Words: 127 > The All Children Thrive (ACT) Initiative, is a statewide effort led by the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, the California Department of Public Health, and Public Health Advocates (PHA). The... The All Children Thrive (ACT) Initiative, is a statewide effort led by the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, the California Department of Public Health, and Public Health Advocates (PHA). The initiative aims to support cities around the state in pursuing local policies that can improve children’s well-being. This training was the second of a four-part series. Within this training, the BMSG staff worked with an array of organizations across California to give an introduction to overall strategy and developing an effective communication plan. Through step by step examples and interactive communication spreadsheets each leader was able to start thinking strategically about how to execute their communication plan. The webinar left time to discuss media access strategy as well as how to create newsworthy messages. --- ## All Children Thrive – Modesto Training URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/all-children-thrive-modesto-training/ Type: events Modified: 2023-01-31 Words: 158 > The All Children Thrive (ACT) Initiative, is a statewide effort led by the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, the California Department of Public Health, and Public Health Advocates (PHA). The... The All Children Thrive (ACT) Initiative, is a statewide effort led by the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, the California Department of Public Health, and Public Health Advocates (PHA). The initiative aims to support cities around the state in pursuing local policies that can improve children’s well-being. This training was the first of a four-part series. Within this training, the BMSG staff worked with school-aged students to give an introduction to the media landscape and tips on how to be effective storytellers. Through creating value-based messaging and simulated mock interviews the students got the opportunity to tap into their overall strategy and give strategic messages that included not only the problem but the solution. The students practiced communicating succinctly and persuasively to prepare for the moment when they would have the opportunity to speak with leaders and strategic allies about the policy goals they are pursuing to make their cities healthier and safer. --- ## IPEN – Spokesperson Training URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/ipen-spokesperson-training/ Type: events Modified: 2023-01-31 Words: 109 > The goal of this training was to equip IPEN members with additional skills to become more effective spokespeople for toxin-free environments. Using simple language to explain how pollutants harm our... The goal of this training was to equip IPEN members with additional skills to become more effective spokespeople for toxin-free environments. Using simple language to explain how pollutants harm our health and our communities can be tricky, the IPEN leaders used this training to explore new methods of communication to make their message more accessible to the general public. Furthermore, IPEN members put new tools in their arsenal to engage with the news media strategically with the goal of reaching decision-makers, activating allies, and building public support to achieve healthier environments. The BMSG staff conducted this training in Spanish to reach audiences across several Latin American countries. --- ## Play Equity/L84: Senior Staff Training URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/play-equity-l84-senior-staff-training/ Type: events Modified: 2023-01-13 Words: 118 > Back in November, BMSG's training team gave an in-person training to Play Equity Fund grantees. The training was designed to equip grantees with the storytelling skills... Back in November, BMSG’s training team gave an in-person training to Play Equity Fund grantees. The training was designed to equip grantees with the storytelling skills needed to describe their work and the impact of their programs in a compelling way. Inspired by the work accomplished here, Play Equity/L84 invited BMSG’s director Lori Dorfman to their end-of-year retreat to help them develop a more upstream, vision-focused outlook when it comes to equity-focused work. BMSG’s primary objective for this session was to provide participants with a strong foundation in strategic communication, as well as an opportunity to practice those concepts in the context of their program goals. --- ## Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health: Media training for racial and health equity URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/fresno-county-department-of-behavioral-health-media-training-for-racial-and-health-equity/ Type: events Modified: 2023-01-13 Words: 70 > Strategic engagement with the news media is a powerful way for health advocates to reach decision-makers while activating allies and building public support toward health equity... Strategic engagement with the news media is a powerful way for health advocates to reach decision-makers while activating allies and building public support toward health equity goals. Over the past two days, BMSG worked with the Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health to successfully communicate about racial and health equity. The staff worked hard to enhance their speaking and interviewing skills, using values-focused language to craft worthwhile messages. --- ## UCSF School of Nursing strategic communications and media advocacy training URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/ucsf-school-of-nursing-strategic-communications-and-media-advocacy-training/ Type: events Modified: 2022-12-27 Words: 44 > ... BMSG developed and delivered a four-hour in-person training for public health professionals at the UCSF School of Nursing. The interactive training was delivered by BMSG trainers Shaddai Martinez Cuestas and Rosaura Wardsworth. It focused on foundational media advocacy and strategic communication concepts. --- ## Top 10 public health and social justice media bites of 2022 URL: https://www.bmsg.org/media-bites-2022/ Type: post Modified: 2023-01-06 Words: 1989 > 2022 has inspired no shortage of compelling media bites, as a year of difficulty led to widespread action. In the wake of COVID, ongoing gun violence, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and other major issues and events, journalists, advocates, and even athletes have used their voices and platforms to help us understand persistent problems and problematic norms in new ways. Here are the top quotes that captured our hearts and minds. At the end of every year, BMSG has made it a tradition to compile a top 10 list of media bites. As our staff reads thousands of news articles, tweets, and other forms of media throughout the year, we occasionally come across snippets that are too good to forget. These media bites make their place in our hearts and minds and serve as a reminder to communicate about complex public health issues in creative ways that are easy for general audiences to understand. 2022 has inspired no shortage of captivating media bites, as a year of difficulty led to widespread action: The overturn of Roe v. Wade has prompted many activists to increase the fervor of their work to protect reproductive rights that are no longer federally recognized. As gun violence, mass shootings, and hate crimes returned to the headlines, we reexamined how the media covers these events by revisiting old conversations about what works, and what doesn’t. Meanwhile, the field of public health has seen no respite, as an earlier and stronger-than-usual uptick in flu and RSV cases, and the recently renamed Mpox compounded the impact of the COVID pandemic, rather than replacing it. In the wake of these and other major issues, journalists, advocates, and even athletes have used their voices and platforms to help us understand persistent problems and problematic norms in new ways. Without further ado, here are our top 10 media bites for 2022, and why we like them so much. Did you find a great media bite this year that we haven’t included? We’d love to hear from you! Send your favorite media bites to us at engage@bmsg.org. “It’s easier to get a gun than baby formula.” By Damion Lee, professional basketball player. Aired on May 24, 2022 during a post-game press conference. Also appeared on CNN. Why we like it: The Warriors’ post-game news conference on May 24, the day of the mass shooting at a school in Uvalde, TX, provided no shortage of compelling comments, including from Coach Steve Kerr who lost his father to gun violence in 1984. We’re highlighting NBA player Damion Lee’s quote, in particular, because he was able to sum up two of the major ways our nation has failed American children in one fell swoop. Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children in the U.S., a statement that cannot be made for any other country on the planet. And, systemic barriers persistently make breastfeeding difficult if not impossible for some mothers (especially mothers of color). Lee’s comments use a powerful juxtaposition to efficiently communicate the deep irony behind our nation’s skewed priorities. “Electrical activity in a microscopic group of organizing cells at 6 weeks is not a “heartbeat.” Know who has a heart beat? Kids cowering in classrooms Women who are raped People with pre-existing conditions Unarmed black men They have heartbeats. “Pro-life” them. #RoeVWade“ By Randi Mayem Singer, screenwriter. Appeared May 2, 2022 on Twitter Why we like it: 2022 was already chock full of letdowns by May, and eroding reproductive rights was simply the nail in the coffin. We’re featuring Singer’s tweet here because she exposes the hypocrisy of anti-choice politics, which does not support life beyond birth, and provides a crucial reframe: When we say pro-life, whose lives are we talking about? “I think we all expect public health to work like Amazon Prime, we’re going to get our package in two days and everything will be fixed. Unfortunately, public health has been underfunded for decades.” -Lauren Weber, on August 7, 2022, in Last Week Tonight by John Oliver. Why we like it: In this episode of Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver highlighted the disappointment many people were facing when they observed the slow response of public health departments to Mpox. People, particularly of disproportionately impacted communities, wanted COVID funding and resources to simply be rerouted to the Mpox response, a common notion that was addressed in this episode. In her segment, Weber shows that public health often can’t move as fast as we need it to, due to a history of underfunding that has pushed public health workers to react in real time rather than prepare ahead of time for pandemics, natural disasters, and other issues we know occur on a regular basis. Learn more about why a fully funded public health infrastructure is so important and how you can champion public health using strategic communication. “When you are poor, the Sun finds you faster.” By Edgar Sandoval in “In San Antonio, the Poor Live on Their Own Islands of Heat,” Appeared July 26, 2022, in The New York Times Why we like it: As we lived through record-high temperatures this summer, this media bite reminded us that climate change doesn’t harm everyone equally. One way this manifests is in lower-income neighborhoods. With their histories of racist policies such as redlining, these communities often lack green spaces, health-promoting tree cover, and well thought-out infrastructure, creating “heat islands” that ... --- ## Public Health Institute media message and delivery training URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/public-health-institute-media-message-and-delivery-training/ Type: events Modified: 2023-01-13 Words: 76 > Over the course of two trainings and a webinar, BMSG helped the Public Health Institute research and policy teams with the storytelling skills needed to describe their work and the... Over the course of two trainings and a webinar, BMSG helped the Public Health Institute research and policy teams with the storytelling skills needed to describe their work and the impact of their programs in a compelling way. Strategic communication requires communicators and storytellers to have a clear vision of what they want to change in the world, so they are better able to position their programs as main actors in creating that change. --- ## To stay or go? Navigating Twitter in the time of Musk URL: https://www.bmsg.org/to-stay-or-go-navigating-twitter-in-the-time-of-musk/ Type: post Modified: 2022-12-14 Words: 1154 > In the weeks since Elon Musk became the owner and CEO of Twitter, news about the acquisition and what it means for journalism, advocacy, and democracy has shown no signs... In the weeks since Elon Musk became the owner and CEO of Twitter, news about the acquisition and what it means for journalism, advocacy, and democracy has shown no signs of slowing down. Headlines have told us about sweeping layoffs, including to the company’s child safety team; new norms that embrace chaos, with policy changes that welcome hate speech, COVID misinformation, and their biggest purveyors like former President Trump; and Musk’s alienation of Black influencers, which has some members of the community defecting to other platforms. Advocates across diverse locations and issue areas are meeting the destabilizing changes with outrage and hints of a coming exodus. Individuals and organizations alike are increasingly rejecting the new iteration of the platform. Still, Twitter remains an important channel through which many government agencies, nonprofits, and other groups communicate. What does the coming culture shift mean for the people and campaigns that rely heavily on it to build their base and reach decision-makers or community residents? Should organizers leave Twitter? If so, does that hurt or potentially help the power of Musk’s digital wrecking ball? What would happen if those who are interested in truth and integrity leave en masse? Would it become an even faster race to the bottom? How could organizations address the shift if they decide to remain on Twitter? Are other platforms like Mastodon, Post, or Hive Social viable alternatives? To help Twitter users navigate the uncertainty, alternative and mainstream media outlets alike have been publishing tips and how-to guides, such as The New York Times’ piece with instructions for downloading Twitter archives so that users can preserve their tweets and engagement data in case the service implodes. Like many of you, BMSG is monitoring this news closely and contemplating our own future with Twitter. While we can’t predict exactly what the social media environment will look like 6 months or a year from now, we can look to trusted voices in the media and organizing landscape for guidance. We’ve been scouring our go-to sources, digging into our own media advocacy vault, and weighing our options. As we move forward in this new digital frontier, here are a few insights that we are considering: History can guide us Cognitive linguist Dr. George Lakoff and colleague Gil Duran have said we must take the threat of Musk’s Twitter seriously. “At the very least, Musk’s Twitter fiasco provides clear examples of both the ideology and tactics shaping our political reality,” they wrote in a recent FrameLab article published through Substack. “Unless we find a way to systematically dismantle Twitter’s influence over society, the past few weeks are only a taste of the chaos and destruction to come.” Lakoff and Duran remind us that Twitter was one of the primary tools that Trump used to get elected. He did so by using it to control the news cycle. For example, through Twitter, he framed issues to his advantage, even when that meant lying; distracted people from other issues of public importance; and undermined the credibility of the press. During Trump’s presidency, Lakoff recommended that the news media be aware of those tactics and counter them by deemphasizing Twitter as a primary source of information. Walking away from Twitter won’t eliminate the platform, but doing so in large enough numbers may further erode its reputation, sending it closer to the QAnon and 4Chan corners of the internet. There is more than a platform at stake Walking away isn’t a viable option for everyone, as staff at Spitfire Strategies pointed out this week. Many communities “don’t have the luxury of picking a new communications channel every time a platform fails to live up to their values or puts their security at risk,” wrote Spitfire Vice President Gabriel Rodriguez. “Many organizations and individuals have built dedicated followings on Twitter, and simply abandoning those relationships will not be sustainable or fair.” Recognizing this challenge, Rodriguez gives several practical tips to help Twitter users “balance the need to maintain community with concerns around safety, stability, and reputation risk.” Suggestions include making sure your audience knows how to find you on multiple platforms and paying close attention to your follower count and other aspects of the user experience to ensure that the platform is reliable enough to remain part of your social media strategy. Consider how race and privilege inform your views Antiracism educator Tim Wise observed in a Twitter thread just days after Musk’s acquisition was complete that, so far, the people he saw threatening to leave the platform were overwhelmingly white. In some ways, the ability to flee, to have that option, is a privilege. “Even as Black Twitter catches the most hell, deals with racism, misogynoir, all the things, all the time…they are here, fighting and refusing to concede this ground…” he wrote. “To those white ... --- ## Communicating effectively about closing the play gap for girls in sports URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/communicating-effectively-about-closing-the-play-gap-for-girls-in-sports/ Type: events Modified: 2022-11-28 Words: 94 > In this training, BMSG helped equip Play Equity Fund grantees with the storytelling skills needed to describe their work and the impact of their programs in a compelling... In this training, BMSG helped equip Play Equity Fund grantees with the storytelling skills needed to describe their work and the impact of their programs in a compelling way. Strategic communication requires communicators and storytellers to have a clear vision of what they want to change in the world, so they are better able to position their programs as main actors in creating that change. The Play Equity Fund was established by the LA84 Foundation and strives to advocate for solutions that support the health and well-being of girls and girl-identified youth. --- ## Reporting on home: Analyzing U.S. news to advance housing justice and health equity URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/reporting-on-home-analyzing-u-s-news-to-advance-housing-justice-and-health-equity/ Type: events Modified: 2022-10-21 Words: 123 > In this webinar supported by the Kresge Foundation, BMSG and Housing Now! discuss differences between media advocacy and social marketing, share BMSG research on how housing and homelessness are portrayed... In this webinar supported by the Kresge Foundation, BMSG and Housing Now! discuss differences between media advocacy and social marketing, share BMSG research on how housing and homelessness are portrayed in the news, and discuss challenges in the duel framing of government as both the problem and part of the solution. View recording Slides Download PDF Related resources BMSG’s Layers of Strategy BMSG’s Message Development Worksheet Housing, equity, and health in U.S. news, 2020-2021: Findings and recommendations Six media advocacy lessons from a campaign for housing justice and health equity featuring Housing Now! California and the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative BMSG’s resources on housing, equity, and, health More info on Housing Now! California --- ## El Poder del Consumidor Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/el-poder-de-consumidor-forum-on-corporate-social-responsibility/ Type: events Modified: 2022-10-21 Words: 94 > BMSG's director, Lori Dorfman, presented at El Poder del Consumidor's Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility. She spoke regarding the impact of marketing by the soda industry and the tobacco industry.... BMSG’s director, Lori Dorfman, presented at El Poder del Consumidor’s Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility. She spoke regarding the impact of marketing by the soda industry and the tobacco industry. The forum is in response to Coca Cola Mexican Industry’s new corporate social responsibility advertising scheme, “Love Multiplies/El Amor Multiplica.” This campaign claims to celebrate women, water, and recycling, advocates believe it was created to distract consumers from the harm Coca Cola perpetuates to public and environmental health. Watch a recording of the event here. --- ## Championing public health amid legal and legislative threats: Framing and language recommendations URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/championing-public-health-amid-legal-and-legislative-threats-framing-and-language-recommendations/ Type: publications Modified: 2026-02-12 Words: 5240 > Introduction Championing public health should be simple: Public health departments fight to keep us safe, and they work with community partners to transform the places we live for the better.... Introduction Championing public health should be simple: Public health departments fight to keep us safe, and they work with community partners to transform the places we live for the better. Yet, this work is underrecognized and poorly understood — so much so that it leaves vulnerable our public health departments’ ability to do the work necessary to safeguard our communities’ health. A concerted effort by some politicians and political bodies threatens to hollow out public health’s powers of protection. Those politicians aim to create new laws that their political allies can wield to shrink the power and authority of public health officials and agencies. This takes the form of a barrage of legal attacks: In some places, public health departments face lawsuits over vaccination and masking mandates; in others, opponents are removing and reassigning public health boards’ authority — often to those without public health expertise. Public health practitioners must be able to respond quickly and effectively to these assaults on their mission — even in jurisdictions not currently under attack — to hold lawmakers accountable, to illustrate for community members what’s at stake, and to demonstrate the importance of public health. Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) and Real Language (RL) have a longstanding interest in strengthening narrative power for public health. Act for Public Health commissioned BMSG and RL to assess narratives around the current attacks on public health’s authority and recommend responses that will enable public health practitioners to communicate more effectively about the essential work they do. BMSG and RL reviewed current communication materials related to public health authority to identify problematic language as well as opportunities for public health workers to establish the value of public health in the context of current legal attacks. Based on this analysis and our years of experience in strategic communication, we offer five tips for making the case for public health. Although there is no single message that will be effective for all audiences in all situations, the recommendations offer language to illuminate and uplift the role of public health as a public good. We are focused here on responding to the current attacks on public health authority, but the tips will be useful in explaining public health’s role across the many issues it touches, from climate change to chronic disease. When applying these recommendations, consider your community context and the specific audiences you are trying to reach and adjust accordingly. Getting started: Shape your message based on your overall strategy and target audience. Message is never first. While public health practitioners need to respond quickly and effectively to the many bills and lawsuits threatening their authority, your local context and overall strategy will influence how you construct and deliver your message. Some practitioners may be working in coalition with other community-based organizations, some might be going through legal channels, and some may be asked to lend their voice as part of a larger campaign. Each of these circumstances will shape your message. If you are already affiliated with public health and ready to use your voice to protect it, this report is for you. Whether you are in a position to lobby directly or whether you are talking generally about the importance of public health, keep your messaging focused and be concrete about what needs to be done at this moment, whether that means setting up protections for keeping public health powers in place or whether it entails rejecting a bill that would remove public health authority and give it to a less qualified body. When crafting your communication, keep in mind your primary audience: the decision-makers you want to persuade. These may be state legislators, county boards of health, boards of supervisors, city councils, judges, or others who may hear from you in direct one-on-one conversations, in hearings, comments, social media calls for action, or media interviews. The most important secondary audiences are those allies and champions who can pressure your primary audience to support public health. These are people who already agree with you: Help them raise their voices and be heard. Messages that resonate with our supporters can pull in people who agree with us about the importance and value of public health but haven’t figured out how to talk about it. Since people are reluctant to voice an opinion if they think they’re the only ones who have it, message repetition is crucial. There may be allies who have yet to speak up but will do so after they hear your message multiple times. Even so, there are going to be some people who will never be convinced and will remain staunchly opposed. Focusing efforts on that small (though vocal) audience is wasted energy. So keep in mind that while the audience for our messages defending public health is wide, it is narro... --- ## Communicating effectively about supporting women and girls in rural communities URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/communicating-effectively-about-supporting-women-and-girls-in-rural-communities/ Type: events Modified: 2022-10-14 Words: 55 > The goal of this training was to build capacity within CNVC staff and volunteers to communicate effectively with decision makers and key audiences about violence prevention, healthy relationships, and strong... The goal of this training was to build capacity within CNVC staff and volunteers to communicate effectively with decision makers and key audiences about violence prevention, healthy relationships, and strong communities. The training helped CNVC establish a common language and consistent voice to talk about its work to support women and girls in rural communities. --- ## How health departments can use strategic communication to engage in housing work & building community power URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/how-health-departments-can-use-strategic-communication-to-engage-in-housing-work-building-community-power/ Type: events Modified: 2022-08-01 Words: 55 > BMSG, HIP and the Public Health Alliance of Southern California co-hosted a webinar on how public health workers and their partners can be powerful voices in shaping decisions that impact... BMSG, HIP and the Public Health Alliance of Southern California co-hosted a webinar on how public health workers and their partners can be powerful voices in shaping decisions that impact housing conditions for California’s families and communities. BMSG was also joined by Tram Nguyen from Alameda County Public Health Department in Oakland, CA. --- ## Creating an equitable future: How public health practitioners can make the case for a just recovery from COVID URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/creating-an-equitable-future-how-public-health-practitioners-can-make-the-case-for-a-just-recovery-from-covid/ Type: events Modified: 2022-07-29 Words: 96 > What might a truly equitable and just recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic look like? And what opportunities exist amid the pandemic to invest in a healthier California and address the... What might a truly equitable and just recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic look like? And what opportunities exist amid the pandemic to invest in a healthier California and address the many long-standing structural, racial, and social inequities that the pandemic has exacerbated? BMSG discussed these questions with the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative, the Public Health Alliance of Southern California, and the San Joaquin Valley Public Health Consortium. Berkeley Media Studies Group shared research on news coverage of pandemic recovery and recommendations for public health practitioners to communicate effectively about a just recovery. --- ## Media Advocacy as a Tool for Narrative Change URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/media-advocacy-as-a-tool-for-narrative-change/ Type: events Modified: 2022-08-01 Words: 138 > Public health professionals across the country have been in the spotlight because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether communicating about risk and prevention or advocating for structural change, advocates must evoke... Public health professionals across the country have been in the spotlight because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether communicating about risk and prevention or advocating for structural change, advocates must evoke a narrative that consistently builds support towards public health goals. Strategic engagement with the news media is a powerful way for advocates to reach decision makers, activate allies and build public support. In this Web Forum Berkeley Media Studies Group will provide a brief introduction to media advocacy as a narrative change tool public health advocates can use in their work. Moderator Karya Lustig, CHLP Director, POCA (Program Office CDC Cooperative Agreement), Deputy Director, CHLP (Center for Health Leadership and Practice) Public Health Institute Guests Chinyere Amobi, MPH, Strategic Communications Specialist, Berkeley Media Studies Group Shaddai Martinez Cuestas, MPH, Head of Training, Berkeley Media Studies Group --- ## Housing, equity, and health in U.S. news, 2020-2021: Findings and recommendations URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/housing-equity-and-health-in-u-s-news-2020-2021-findings-and-recommendations/ Type: publications Modified: 2022-10-17 Words: 9795 > Introduction The evidence is clear: Health depends on access to safe, stable housing.1–5 Unfortunately, a legacy of inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to housing for many people, based... Introduction The evidence is clear: Health depends on access to safe, stable housing.1–5 Unfortunately, a legacy of inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to housing for many people, based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. These systemic barriers to having a quality, affordable home are key drivers of health inequities in the United States. As such, helping the public and policymakers understand the connection between housing and health is a key step toward not only advancing housing policy and improving community health but also toward strengthening the movement for racial and health equity. Is the impact of housing on health clear to the public and lawmakers? We can look to the media to find out. News coverage provides insight into the public discourse about housing, as well as into opportunities for and potential barriers to shifting that discussion. All forms of media — print, broadcast, and social — significantly influence the public’s and policymakers’ knowledge of many issues, including housing.6–8 Journalists and editors often set the agenda for the public debate about a topic by deciding which details they report (or don’t report) and how they frame their stories. News coverage, then, offers a window into understanding whether and how people think about housing. Is it on their radars? If so, what do they know about the problem? What they think should be done? Framing refers to how an issue is portrayed and understood. Frames shape the parameters of public debates by promoting particular definitions of a problem, its causes, its moral aspects, and its possible solutions.9–11 Many factors influence what frames get evoked in news stories: the language that’s used, what types of information are highlighted, the potential solutions that are discussed, and whose perspectives are included or left out. Frames that are repeated often and deeply ingrained become the housing narratives that either confine our policy choices or make a vision of housing justice possible. Understanding how journalists currently frame housing, and how those choices shape long-term narratives, can help housing and health advocates be strategic about their communication strategies. For example, a framing analysis of the news can inform advocates as they decide what messages to use to win immediate policy goals, while also shaping local and national narratives to portray housing as a social good that supports individual and community health. To understand the specific nuances of how news coverage frames the complex intersections of housing and health equity, Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) conducted an ethnographic content analysis12 of news about housing and health equity from media markets across the country, informed by feedback from grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing Initiative working in those communities. Here, we present a summary of findings, as well as recommendations that we hope will help grantees and other advocates working to emphasize the nuanced connections between housing and health and elevate just and equitable approaches to ensure stable housing and good health for everyone. What we did To build on quantitative news analyses BMSG conducted in 2021, we analyzed the content of print news stories about housing and health from across the country. To identify which stories to analyze, BMSG researchers first developed a search string (targeted words used to pull articles from large databases) to collect news about a range of housing issues. The search string was informed by responses to a questionnaire that was sent to Health Equity and Housing (HEH) grantees working in 22 different locations around the country. To capture news about housing, the final search string included terms related to grantees’ diverse focus areas and policy strategies that center racial and health equity, including affordable housing, tenant protections, homelessness, and community land trusts, as well as equity and health-related terms, such as “low-income,” “disparities,” “equity,” and others. Figure 1: Sampling articles about housing, health, and equity in U.S. news Using LexisNexis and ProQuest, BMSG identified and collected print and online news articles published between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021 in 22 outlets that represented grantee media markets (see Appendix A for a full list of outlets and media markets sampled). For each of the four outlets in the sample that included both national or regional and local coverage (such as The New York Times or the Los Angeles Times), we added location terms like “New York City” or “Los Angeles” to narrow the search to local news. We found 4,349 articles published between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021 that met our search criteria. We used proportional random sampling to build a representative sample of 166 articles. We then removed 30 articles that did not substantively ... --- ## Defending public health with ChangeLab Solutions URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/defending-public-health-with-changelab-solutions/ Type: events Modified: 2022-07-26 Words: 89 > BMSG worked with ChangeLab Solutions and Real Language, a language and linguistics strategy firm, to learn the specifics around the attacks on public health in different states and then design... BMSG worked with ChangeLab Solutions and Real Language, a language and linguistics strategy firm, to learn the specifics around the attacks on public health in different states and then design and conduct a two-part training to guide public health practitioners in developing and delivering messages that support a strong role for government in protecting the public’s health. The trainings demonstrated how messages are driven by a group’s overall strategy and provided participants with skills to effectively evoke their values, succinctly describe problems, and focus on solutions. --- ## Calls to publish graphic images of mass violence are misguided. Here’s what we need instead. URL: https://www.bmsg.org/calls-to-publish-graphic-images-of-mass-violence-are-misguided-heres-what-we-need-instead/ Type: post Modified: 2023-03-17 Words: 1073 > When 14-year-old Emmett Till was brutally lynched, his mother Mamie moved fast to ensure that images of what the assailants had done to her son would be plastered across the... When 14-year-old Emmett Till was brutally lynched, his mother Mamie moved fast to ensure that images of what the assailants had done to her son would be plastered across the pages in Jet magazine and widely broadcast on television screens. She made sure that no one could turn a blind eye to the horror of racist violence facing Black boys and men. Now, people are asking if the media need to take a similar approach and publish graphic images that show the aftermath of the Uvalde mass shooting. Some editors and journalism school deans have argued we should. Their arguments and concerns are valid; after all, documenting wrongdoing, unblinkingly, is important. And images provide a powerful way to do so, as when Mamie Till’s bold decision ignited anger and action. However, our media atmosphere has changed since then. In today’s always-on news environment, graphic images do not carry the same weight that they once did — and certainly not in the way that journalism editors often hope they will. Videos depicting police brutality and shootings have long been readily available on social media, even as the act is occurring, often thanks to the assailant. For example, in the 2019 Christchurch Mosque Shootings, the attacker used Facebook to livestream the attack as he carried it out. The Christchurch shooter’s widely circulated intentions and recordings of the attack reportedly inspired the massacre in Buffalo. Graphic images tend to spark outrage and upset from people who are already sympathetic, but I have seen little action from those in positions of power. Without the latter, publishing such images proves fruitless. The children and adults who were murdered in the Uvalde shooting deserve better than to be used for shock value; they deserve intentional reporting and policy solutions. As a native of Pakistan, where media outlets are less restrained in publishing images of graphic violence, I know firsthand the limitations of such visuals. Images that would otherwise only be found in the darker corners of the web are readily available on television and print news, and violent videos are shared casually to group chats. Just this month, pictures of a recently deceased television personality spread as fast as news of his demise; rather than spur strong emotions or a desire for action, such images have simply desensitized people to the point where they seem almost no different from pictures of living people. Overwhelmed by an onslaught of graphic imagery, we’ve become numb to the horror. We’re quick to forget that our own American media also have had a long history of publishing graphic and disturbing images. While they spurred movements for social change, photos of the Kent State shootings didn’t stop violence among law enforcement, and horrifying pictures the My Lai Massacre didn’t slow atrocities at the hands of our own Armed Forces abroad. Emmett Till’s murderers were found not guilty. Powerful imagery on its own is not the panacea or guarantor of social change. It is all too optimistic to think that publishing such distressing images will drive the right lawmakers to take action to ensure that nothing like Uvalde happens again. This is a hopeful but naive assumption; if news of children being killed in a place where they should be safe is not enough for immediate action, if heartbreaking testimonies from survivors and parents who now have empty homes is not enough, then why would images be different? If the fact that gun violence is now the leading cause of death for American children isn’t enough to make policymakers push for comprehensive background checks and limit high-capacity magazines, is it too hopeful to think pictures will somehow cause politicians to break the grip that the NRA has on elected officials? Our politicians already know gun violence is an issue; they see it in the news and on their Twitter feeds, just like us. They visit crime scenes and meet with victims families’ — they experience the aftermath in a much more tangible way than just a 2D image. The only guaranteed outcome of publishing such photos is to retraumatize the victims’ loved ones, along with everyone else who has been vicariously traumatized by continual acts of gun violence. The children and adults who were murdered in the Uvalde shooting deserve better than to be used for shock value; they deserve intentional reporting and policy solutions. They deserve to be remembered for who they were and not just how they died. As journalists, it’s important to question calls to show graphic violence, images of slain children at that, and ask ourselves: Who does this target? Could this actually accomplish our end goal? More journalists are publishing guides including promising practices for covering mass shootings in ways that don’t glorify the shooter or amplify the harmful, hateful ideologies that motivate them. Some tips include: Build audiences’ trust by ensuring that all data points and definitions related to guns and gun violence are accura... --- ## Talking about our recovery from COVID: How public health practitioners can emphasize equity URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/talking-about-our-recovery-from-covid-how-public-health-practitioners-can-emphasize-equity/ Type: publications Modified: 2022-09-27 Words: 7517 > Introduction What might a truly equitable and just recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic look like? How can we build support for a robust public health infrastructure — which advocates and... Introduction What might a truly equitable and just recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic look like? How can we build support for a robust public health infrastructure — which advocates and practitioners have long called for — so that all people have access to quality housing, child care, public transportation, and other social factors that benefit health? And what opportunities exist amid the pandemic to invest in a healthier California and address the many long-standing structural, racial, and social inequities that the pandemic has exacerbated? In the midst of the global pandemic, climate-related disasters, and widespread actions triggered by police violence, organizations like the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative and the Public Health Alliance of Southern California have released policy platforms that envision a more equitable, just, and healthier California. Additionally, other organizations have described in depth how community-based organizations are an essential part of the public health system and played a key role in addressing inequities. These platforms and approaches go beyond addressing COVID and describe opportunities to rectify pre-pandemic inequities. Advancing such strategies — whether in response to COVID, climate change, attacks on our democracy, or other crises — will require effectively conveying these ideas to policymakers and the public, with the media being an important way to reach both. Still, critical messages from public health practitioners and their partners that will shape if and how we move forward from COVID may not be reaching many Californians, as news about pandemic-related recovery contains significant gaps. While COVID has dominated the news during the last two years, the high volume of coverage has not necessarily increased public understanding of our public health systems, how social factors affect health, and why racial and health equity are critical for all Californians’ health and well-being. Much of the coverage about public health’s role has been incomplete, focusing primarily on mask mandates, vaccination clinics, and social distancing requirements. There has been less news about California’s public health system, which includes a vast network of community-based organizations working to rectify and prevent future inequities by overhauling systems and structures. Local and statewide coalitions that have organizing and communication capacity can effectively shape news coverage and make a real impact on equity-focused policies. To identify opportunities to elevate public health perspectives on an equitable recovery from COVID, Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) researched news about recovery from the pandemic. We then combined our findings with additional communication research and experience working with community advocates and local health departments, to offer recommendations to strengthen communication about a just and equitable recovery — and the role that public health must play. We’ve seen how investments in building local and statewide coalitions that have organizing and communication capacity can effectively shape news coverage and make a real impact on equity-focused policies: The statewide campaign to prevent evictions during the pandemic is but one example. We hope this document supports local and state efforts to center racial and health equity as the cornerstone of California’s recovery. Methods Why studying the news matters: News coverage provides a window into the public narrative about any issue because news shapes public opinion and policy agendas. Journalists’ decisions about how to cover the many pressing topics of the day can raise the profile of an issue, whereas issues not covered by the news media are often neglected and remain largely outside public discourse and policy debate.1,2,3 News coverage influences how the public and policymakers perceive and discuss issues4,5 including, for example, whose perspectives are seen as credible and valuable, which solutions are elevated or ignored, and how arguments are characterized. What we did: To identify patterns in how pandemic recovery has been characterized, and the opportunities to elevate racial and health equity in that discussion, BMSG researchers searched California print news for articles published between January 1 and September 30, 2021, that included all variations of terms like “economic recovery” or “pandemic recovery.” Our search yielded 260 articles, from which we selected a representative 20% sample of 53 articles. Of those, 28 articles (52%) substantively discussed changes to the economy or to community and social programs during the pandemic (the remaining articles either profiled the experience of individual businesses during the pandemic or highlighted only national data on the recovery not specific to California). We evaluated the 28 articles that included substantive content using a coding instrument designed to address questions about who was quoted in the news,... --- ## ‘People like us’: News coverage of food assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/people-like-us-news-coverage-of-food-assistance-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/ Type: publications Modified: 2022-09-27 Words: 275 > Abstract Objective: To understand how the public discourse around food assistance and social responsibility evolved during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic by analyzing news coverage. Methods: We conducted... Abstract Objective: To understand how the public discourse around food assistance and social responsibility evolved during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic by analyzing news coverage. Methods: We conducted an ethnographic content analysis of news articles and photographs about food insecurity or food assistance published by U.S. newspapers and wire services between December 1, 2019, and November 30, 2020. We analyzed a random sample of 241 articles and 223 photographs to assess how they depicted food assistance programs, the program participants, and whether they included cues for deservingness. Results: Before the pandemic, news about food assistance was dominated by stories about abuse and fraud. Once COVID-19 began, news coverage contained cues known to engender beliefs about the deservingness of people receiving assistance. During the pandemic, news also highlighted misconceptions about food assistance programs, called for policy changes to reduce logistical barriers, and described the plight of families and other “people like us” in need of food assistance. Discussion: News coverage during the pandemic cued audience empathy, highlighted the logistical strains faced by food assistance programs, and elevated values of government accountability. The narrative about society’s obligation to care for communities in need can be transferred to other safety net programs that protect the public’s health. Health equity implications: As the pandemic evolves, public health leaders can maintain the narrative about the importance of food assistance and expand the characteristics of this narrative to challenge well-entrenched, but false, narratives about those who need help. Full text To view the full text online or to download and print a PDF, visit the website of the journal Health Equity. --- ## Connecting Housing, Justice, Health, and Journalism URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/connecting-housing-justice-health-and-journalism/ Type: events Modified: 2022-07-28 Words: 92 > Berkeley Media Studies Group health equity coordinator Katherine Schaff hosted an online webinar with panelists from Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII) and Council of Community Housing Organizations (CCHO).... Berkeley Media Studies Group health equity coordinator Katherine Schaff hosted an online webinar with panelists from Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII) and Council of Community Housing Organizations (CCHO). Panelists discussed how reporters can deepen housing coverage in California to get to the root of housing and health inequities. Catch a recording of the event here: https://www.facebook.com/SFCCHO/videos/1167638050475595 Check out highlights and lessons learned in this blog that draws from the event: How advocates can create pitches that lead to media coverage: 5 tips from journalists --- ## Communicating about reproductive health URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/communicating-about-reproductive-health/ Type: events Modified: 2022-05-14 Words: 63 > BMSG staff facilitated a virtual training for Bixby Media and Advocacy Fellows. In two two hour trainings, participants learned how strategy is tied to media and communications work, how to... BMSG staff facilitated a virtual training for Bixby Media and Advocacy Fellows. In two two hour trainings, participants learned how strategy is tied to media and communications work, how to recognize frames that support structural and policy change, how to incorporate racial and health equity into organizing and communication plans, and how to articulate values and peak plainly when communicating about reproductive health. --- ## UC Berkeley Changemakers micro-course: Communication for public health professionals URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/uc-berkeley-changemakers-micro-course-communication-for-public-health-professionals/ Type: events Modified: 2022-05-17 Words: 77 > BMSG staff taught a five week micro course for UC Berkeley School of Public Health graduate students. Across five sessions, including two in person meetings on the UC Berkeley campus,... BMSG staff taught a five week micro course for UC Berkeley School of Public Health graduate students. Across five sessions, including two in person meetings on the UC Berkeley campus, students learned the fundamentals of media advocacy, message development, and media tactics, and engaged in interactive activities that gave them the tools to deliver concise, compelling messaging. Students completed weekly readings and assignments, culminating in opinion pieces that they pitched to local and national media outlets. --- ## Introduction to media advocacy and strategic communications with UC Berkeley interdisciplinary MPH students URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/introduction-to-media-advocacy-and-strategic-communications-with-uc-berkeley-interdisciplinary-mph-students/ Type: events Modified: 2022-04-27 Words: 71 > In this virtual training with UC Berkeley School of Public Health interdisciplinary MPH students, BMSG staff covered the fundamentals of media advocacy and strategic communications. Students learned about the agenda-setting... In this virtual training with UC Berkeley School of Public Health interdisciplinary MPH students, BMSG staff covered the fundamentals of media advocacy and strategic communications. Students learned about the agenda-setting power of the news, how issues are framed by the media, how to align messages with solutions, and how to articulate values in messaging. The training also included an opportunity to practice delivering messages in highly engaging mock interview activities. --- ## Media communications for public health professionals URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/media-communications-for-public-health-professionals/ Type: events Modified: 2022-04-27 Words: 92 > In this virtual two-part media advocacy training for staff, students, and emerging public health leaders of the Center for Public Health Practice and Leadership and the Center for Occupational and... In this virtual two-part media advocacy training for staff, students, and emerging public health leaders of the Center for Public Health Practice and Leadership and the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at UC Berkeley, BMSG staff provided an introduction to media advocacy and strategic communication so participants can communicate effectively about public health issues and work with the media. The training included tools to prepare for a media interview, including an overview of working with reporters, and a series of hands-on exercises to practice interviewing skills and receive feedback. --- ## How advocates can create pitches that lead to media coverage: 5 tips from journalists URL: https://www.bmsg.org/pitching-systems-level-stories-to-the-media-5-tips-from-journalists/ Type: post Modified: 2022-07-28 Words: 1333 > One of the few silver linings of the pandemic is that it has forced many people to realize the immense importance of the press, not only in sharing crucial information... One of the few silver linings of the pandemic is that it has forced many people to realize the immense importance of the press, not only in sharing crucial information but also in influencing what solutions seem possible. In a similar way, officials, the public, and the media are now beginning to see what public health is and how important health departments and community-based organizations are in advocating for policies that protect entire populations from disease and address inequities in health outcomes. But for every news story about soaring case counts, staff shortages, and other struggles facing public health workers, there are countless other untold tales about the long-standing work public health advocates and health departments have done to earn community trust, dispel misinformation, and meet essential needs. During a recent event on communicating about COVID, Berkeley Media Studies Group (supported by Public Health Institute’s Together Toward Health project) brought together several journalists — Anh Do, a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, Maria Eraña, director of broadcasting at Radio Bilingüe, and Nadia Lopez, Latino communities reporter at The Fresno Bee — for a panel discussion aimed at giving public health advocates the skills they need to communicate effectively with reporters. Participants gained tips for crafting compelling pitches about the work they’ve been doing before and during the pandemic; they also learned ways to better convey complex information, think like an editor, and build stronger relationships with reporters. What was born from that event was a set of valuable insights for advocates hoping to harness the power of the news to influence systems-level change that impacts the structures and environments in which health happens. Go beyond statistics to highlight the human element of your issue Do kicked off the conversation by sharing how she and her colleagues seek the humanity behind pitches, rather than only statistics and fact sheets. “The heart of every health story is the human ingredient,” Do said. “It’s the voices, the experiences, the fears and the daily challenges of people.” Eraña stressed that that human element helps readers better connect to stories, even after a year of depending on experts for advice on how to live everyday life. “Depending on who your audience is, when people listen to other people like themselves, they connect immediately and feel more at ease,” said Eraña. The Radio Bilingüe director also echoed a philosophy present in much of BMSG’s work about the importance of also stepping back to highlight the systemic forces and landscape that shape a subject’s experiences. Doing so can highlight the structural factors behind individual decisions and help both advocates and reporters avoid placing the blame on the very communities experiencing disparities and other issues. This can be especially important when reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic, where differences in case and vaccination rates can be due to structural issues of exposure and access, rather than just the decisions of individuals. An individual-level story might focus on a person’s concerns or path to getting a vaccine; a systems-level story would also include a focus on systemic barriers to accessing the vaccine or community-led efforts that can eliminate those barriers. Avoid shallow pitches In line with tying pitches to larger, systemic stories, panelists advised advocates to avoid aiming exclusively for one-time coverage or event coverage through their pitches. “Reporters don’t care about name dropping in a press release,” Lopez said. “If you’re a reporter like me that reports on an underserved community or a specific community, [and you propose] an interview with a person because you think they’re important, that’s not going to resonate with me unless you highlight how that’s relevant to my audience.” Do and Lopez encouraged advocates to highlight within their pitches how an individual, organization, or event ties to a larger issue that impacts their audience. Doing so, while highlighting ways that your story is newsworthy, can increase the chances that your pitch grabs a reporter’s attention. Tailor your pitch to the reporter, outlet, and its audience One goal of the event was to demystify the pitching process and give advocates the inside scoop on how to make sure their stories resonate with journalists in a way that sparks meaningful coverage. Panelists urged advocates to do their homework before reaching out to reporters and outlets. A well-tailored pitch can show that you understand an outlet’s audience and a reporter’s area of coverage — and that you’re interested in more than just one-time coverage. “Tailoring a pitch to the needs of a specific region or community can really help you better establish a relationship with a reporter,” Lopez said. “It shows that you’re not just sending a broad pitch out to everyone; you’re really trying to understand things on a local level.”... --- ## Communicating effectively about economic security with Human Impact Partners’ Economic Security Speaker’s Bureau URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/communicating-effectively-about-economic-security-with-human-impact-partners-economic-security-speakers-bureau/ Type: events Modified: 2022-04-27 Words: 69 > BMSG staff facilitated a spokesperson training session for Human Impact Partners' Economic Security Speakers Bureau cohort, following the organization's trainings on the fundamentals of their economic security narrative. BMSG's training... BMSG staff facilitated a spokesperson training session for Human Impact Partners’ Economic Security Speakers Bureau cohort, following the organization’s trainings on the fundamentals of their economic security narrative. BMSG’s training covered message development and delivery, so advocates are able to speak confidently, persuasively, and succinctly in a variety of settings such as media interviews, or meetings with policy makers, stakeholders, and other decision makers. --- ## Public health advocacy must be taught URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/public-health-advocacy-must-be-taught/ Type: publications Modified: 2022-02-15 Words: 138 > Solutions to public health problems have always lay in a combination of science and the hard work of advocates for social reform. However, in this new article for Health Affairs,... Solutions to public health problems have always lay in a combination of science and the hard work of advocates for social reform. However, in this new article for Health Affairs, Berkeley Media Studies Group Director Lori Dorfman and coauthors argue that there’s a disconnect between what public health professionals should be able to do to be effective and what’s actually being taught in schools of public health: “As our society struggles through the evolution of COVID-19, the crucial question is: Are we preparing the next generation of public health practitioners to not only investigate what harms health but also to advocate affirmatively for what is needed to advance health, particularly for groups plagued by structural inequities?” View the full text at: https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/forefront.20220202.653661 --- ## Communicating about vaccines: Meeting people where they are URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-about-vaccines-meeting-people-where-they-are-avoid-shame-stigma/ Type: publications Modified: 2024-10-16 Words: 582 > Shame is all too common in communication about vaccines, but we should avoid it because it is not effective at changing individuals' hearts and minds. Instead, as research has shown,... Shame is all too common in communication about vaccines, but we should avoid it because it is not effective at changing individuals’ hearts and minds. Instead, as research has shown, we need to demonstrate empathy, listen without judgment, and share messages using credible local spokespeople who are easy for audiences to relate to. Learn more in this video, the fourth in a series from Berkeley Media Studies Group. TRANSCRIPT Best practices in strategic communication tell us that shame is not an effective tool for changing individual behavior. This is true for any health issue, including vaccination. PAMELA MEJIA, BMSG HEAD OF RESEARCH: When people feel shamed or stigmatized about their choices, they tend to retreat; they tend to become defensive; they stop asking questions; they close themselves off to new information. So, you can clearly see how, in the context of immunizations, shame would be very problematic. Parents who feel that they are being shamed or branded as anti-vaxxers just for asking questions about medical treatments for their child might become very defensive, might retreat further into distrust and dislike of the medical community and vaccinations. I think establishing trust and rapport is critical to communicating effectively about vaccines and why they matter. NARRATOR: That begins with our messages — and our willingness to listen. MEJIA: So, language is a really important consideration. I always advise people to try and avoid the phrase anti-vaxx or anti-vaxxer because it is stigmatizing; it is limiting; it does make people defensive and can close them off to hearing more information. There is value in using phrases like “people who are questioning” or “people who are unsure about vaccination.” NARRATOR: It’s also important to listen without judgment when questions arise. MEJIA: We talk about meeting people where they are — well, we really have to be in there with people to do that. It is completely normal and valid and right and to have questions, especially about something that is going into your body or the body of somebody that you love. I would caution people who are trying to communicate about vaccines — I would caution them against pretending that misinformation doesn’t exist. To put another way, I think we just need to acknowledge that there’s a lot of information out there; we need to make people feel comfortable and heard in having questions about it, and we need to share that we’re kind of all living in this information-overload world. NARRATOR: In an op-ed for The Cincinnati Enquirer, two co-founders of a community engagement start-up emphasize the importance of listening directly to community residents’ concerns. They held six focus groups in Ohio “to identify strategies to encourage more people to feel comfortable receiving the vaccine.” Their top lessons included acknowledging hesitancy with respect, focusing on how vaccination keeps vulnerable people safe, and using relatable local messengers. MEJIA: There are some people who, perhaps, will never be moved on vaccinations. But there are many people who are just questioning, who just want to know a little bit more, who just need a little bit of reassurance. I think it’s important that we focus on people who, maybe are questioning but can be moved, who can — with additional information, with additional space to ask questions, with authentic messengers they can relate to — might well be moved to embrace vaccines and embrace being immunized. --- ## Message development and public speaking for the California Preterm Birth Initiative URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/message-development-and-public-speaking-for-the-california-preterm-birth-initiative/ Type: events Modified: 2022-04-27 Words: 61 > BMSG staff delivered a strategic communications and message delivery training for participants in the Benioff Community Innovators Oakland program of the California Preterm Birth Initiative. In two sessions, BMSG staff... BMSG staff delivered a strategic communications and message delivery training for participants in the Benioff Community Innovators Oakland program of the California Preterm Birth Initiative. In two sessions, BMSG staff focused on message development and effective message delivery including exercises to help spokespeople build confidence and stay on message. Participants received critical and supportive feedback through interactive exercises throughout the training. --- ## Introduction to strategic communication for the Alameda County Healthy Homes Department URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/introduction-to-strategic-communication-for-the-alameda-county-healthy-homes-department/ Type: events Modified: 2022-04-27 Words: 81 > In this three-part virtual series for communication and engagement staff from the Alameda County Healthy Homes Department, BMSG staff provided strategic communication training and technical assistance to help staff implement... In this three-part virtual series for communication and engagement staff from the Alameda County Healthy Homes Department, BMSG staff provided strategic communication training and technical assistance to help staff implement strategic and coordinated communication activities in support of the Department’s goals of engaging community members with its Lead Poisoning Prevention Services as well as in advocating for policy solutions to remove lead from Oakland Homes. BMSG staff also conducted another shorter training for additional staff from the Department. --- ## Five ways public health advocates can combat misinformation when communicating about COVID URL: https://www.bmsg.org/five-ways-public-health-advocates-can-combat-misinformation-when-communicating-about-covid/ Type: post Modified: 2022-01-13 Words: 1007 > Something’s burning. It was September 9, 2020, and I had just awakened to an orange sky. It was too bright for 6:30 a.m. in San Jose, so I sniffed, not... Something’s burning. It was September 9, 2020, and I had just awakened to an orange sky. It was too bright for 6:30 a.m. in San Jose, so I sniffed, not believing my eyes. But that only made things worse. The faint whiff of saltwater I relied on for familiarity was gone. As I got online, I saw urgent messages from my coworkers: Massive fires had broken out in California, and we had to decide — very quickly — whether or not to ground our canvassing team. Was the air quality bad? I wondered. How bad is too unhealthy for everyone? Should we be responding to the fire, or the pandemic? It was only the third week of the Community Health and Business Engagement program, a small team conceived by my local county to distribute information on mask wearing and social distancing during the pandemic. Most of the time, we were being crushed by questions we couldn’t answer. Is my business eligible for a loan? I heard that the funds have dried up already. My customers don’t want to wear masks because they don’t believe COVID exists. The fires were an unwelcome element puffing in more uncertainty. As the twin threats of COVID and wildfires grew, so did a third danger to our community: misinformation. Certainly, it is less tangible than a virus or smoke-filled air, but its risks to health are no less real. Not only are misinformation and disinformation fueling vaccine hesitancy, they are also discouraging communities from seeking out services that could improve their lives. A recent report from the Surgeon General cements this: Addressing misinformation is a public health imperative. As advocates seek to address misinformation at the root by holding tech companies accountable, we also need tools to neutralize bad information during the pandemic and in the future. The first step toward combating misinformation is understanding how people spread it, sometimes without even knowing it. Misinformation and disinformation often begin with people and corporations deliberately twisting facts, even profiting from those lies. However, those same distortions can be amplified by well-meaning people. How, then, can public health advocates and practitioners avoid unwittingly fueling the spread of misinformation? The following is a primer to this large topic — five pieces of advice to communicate more effectively amid our current environment: Lead with values. Across all areas of public health, our messages are strongest when they incorporate, and ideally lead, with values. With COVID, community organizations and health departments have to contend with rapidly evolving science. As the details quickly change, people may feel the information coming from public health is less reliable, opening them to believing misinformation. To be sure, it is difficult to remain credible when guidance frequently changes. Leading with overarching values that resonate with community members provides some consistency in messages even when specific details shift. Be concise. It may be tempting to say everything, especially as we know more today regarding COVID, but shorter messages are easier to repeat and remember. If practitioners don’t create strategic and concise messages, their communities will likely tune them out in favor of ones that make their audiences feel included. Keeping our messages concise can also make it easier to identify our own jargon, which can make it harder for people to understand messages. If our messages are brief, it’s easier to flag — and remove — the terms that might be hard to understand. Avoid re-stating myths or opposition talking points. Experts agree that putting bad information to rest by repeating it, such as stating myths and facts, is tempting but can backfire. Even if our language is clear, people may recall information out of order, miss important nuances, and remember the myths rather than the facts provided to replace them. To avoid unintentionally amplifying myths and misinformation, try reframing the facts. For example, after hearing that “vaccines are not in short supply,” people may later remember only “short supply” and not recall whether this is or isn’t the case regarding vaccines. Instead, try stating the frame you want people to remember: “We have an ample supply of vaccines.” Social media posts can skip stating the myth and focus on the facts, values, and frames that are most important. Use a ‘truth sandwich.’ If you feel you must acknowledge misinformation, a tried-and-true tool is the truth sandwich, which acknowledges people’s concerns without reinforcing them, such as in the case of masks. This approach ‘sandwiches’ the misinformation between the truth: 1. Start with the truth. The first frame gets the advantage. 2. Indicate that some people are spreading misinformation. Avoid amplifying the specific language if possible. 3. Return to the truth. Always repeat truths more than the misinformation. Pre-bunk misinformation. Within the truth sandwich, there is also an opportunity to proactively debunk if you kno... --- ## Top pandemic-themed public health media bites of 2021, metaphor edition URL: https://www.bmsg.org/top-pandemic-themed-public-health-media-bites-of-2021-metaphor-edition/ Type: post Modified: 2021-12-17 Words: 3061 > During the early days of the pandemic, we read news coverage about the virus obsessively. No story was too small. We also paid close attention to behind-the-scenes conversations happening on... During the early days of the pandemic, we read news coverage about the virus obsessively. No story was too small. We also paid close attention to behind-the-scenes conversations happening on public health listservs, and an overwhelming number of threads pointed to the need for one thing: more robust infrastructure and funding. Without it, experts warned, the pandemic would rage on, and, even more troubling, may not be the only pandemic we experience in our lifetimes. It was clear that communicating the need for public health infrastructure was critically important to prevention, now and in the future, but how could we convey such an abstract concept in a clear, compelling way? Then, we saw it: a beautifully — and simply — stated metaphor. Matt McKillop, senior health policy researcher and analyst at Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), and Dara Alpert Lieberman, TFAH’s director of government relations, co-authored a report that made a compelling case for why we must proactively prepare for threats like COVID-19 by investing in our public health workforce and infrastructure. “Not doing so is akin to hiring firefighters and purchasing hoses and protective equipment amid a five-alarm fire,” they wrote. We’re reminded of that metaphor every time we read a new article or blog about infrastructure. McKillop and Lieberman gave us a new lens to look through. They shaped not only our understanding of their article but our understanding of all future communication about the subject. We love metaphors at BMSG. Metaphors, which are prevalent but often overlooked in everyday language, carry many functions and benefits: They allow us to make strong arguments about complex or abstract ideas without relying on jargon; they can help us illuminate social problems — and how to solve them; they can even help us bridge ideological gaps. Researchers have found that exposure to a single metaphor can result in substantial differences in opinions — differences that can help disparate groups, such as opposing political parties, come together and see issues from a similar perspective. Metaphors, then, can lead people to logical conclusions that may be harder to reach in other ways. For example, according to a study published in PLOS One, participants who read language portraying crime as a virus “were more likely to propose treating the crime problem by investigating the root causes of the issue and instituting social reforms” than participants who read language that likened crime to a beast lurking around every corner. Those participants were more likely to propose punitive approaches to fighting crime, such as “hiring police officers and building jails — to catch and cage the criminals.” When it comes to communicating about COVID, we’ve seen many outstanding metaphors in the news. Public health practitioners, advocates, and researchers have used analogies to explain everything from the need for vaccines to the importance of masks to the way vaccines work. Many of these metaphors have been so memorable that we’ve decided to dedicate this year’s annual media bites blog to the creative comparisons. Of course, no communication, no matter how clever or compelling, is a substitute for equitable access to vaccines, housing, job safety, and other conditions that shape our health. Words cannot replace these supports — but they can reinforce them. Cognitive linguist George Lakoff has explained that metaphors play a key role in defining our daily realities. And we at BMSG have no doubt that they have been instrumental in shaping narratives about the pandemic. Here are some of our favorite metaphors from this past year’s news and social media, as well our own resources, grouped by topic. Please sit back, enjoy, and if you have seen other metaphors that you think should be on our radar (metaphor intended!), share your top picks with us at info@bmsg.org or @BMSG. Using fire safety to convey the effectiveness of vaccines, important caveats about breakthrough infections, and more One of the most common and effective metaphors we’ve seen characterizes the virus as a fire. If the virus is a fire, then it becomes easier for readers to imagine how public health tools like masks and vaccines compare to common elements of fire safety, from fire extinguishers to flame retardants. Fire safety metaphors can help us communicate the following: How vaccines slow the spread of infection: “The vaccines have begun to quench the pandemic inferno, but the remaining flames are still burning through the same communities that have already been disproportionately scorched by COVID-19 — and by a much older legacy of poor health care.” -Ed Yong. Appeared June 9, 2021 in The Atlantic. Vaccinated people are like wet logs, unvaccinated like dry kindling. COVID is the fire. Can wet logs catch fire? Yes. Can wet logs SPREAD fire once they catch flame? Sure. But it’s MUCH harder to start a fire with wet logs, and nearly impossible when there’s no more kindling. pic.twitter.com/... --- ## Media advocacy and strategic communication for tobacco control and other issues URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/media-advocacy-and-strategic-communication-for-tobacco-control-and-other-issues/ Type: events Modified: 2022-01-20 Words: 66 > In this two-part virtual series for staff from the Tuolumne County Department of Public Health Tobacco Control Program, BMSG staff covered the fundamentals of media advocacy and strategic communication, including... In this two-part virtual series for staff from the Tuolumne County Department of Public Health Tobacco Control Program, BMSG staff covered the fundamentals of media advocacy and strategic communication, including framing and message development. Participants also learned about media strategy (deciding the best way to reach your target and when media can best affect the decision-making process) and message delivery in high stakes situations. --- ## Six media advocacy lessons from a campaign for housing justice and health equity URL: https://www.bmsg.org/six-media-advocacy-lessons-from-a-campaign-for-housing-justice-and-health-equity/ Type: post Modified: 2021-12-09 Words: 3237 > When California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation to create eviction protections and a rent-relief program this summer to help shield low-income tenants and small landlords from the financial fallout of... When California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation to create eviction protections and a rent-relief program this summer to help shield low-income tenants and small landlords from the financial fallout of the pandemic, his office touted it as “the largest and most comprehensive COVID rental protection and rent relief program of any state in the nation.” What readers wouldn’t have known from the news release is that a housing justice coalition had campaigned for such a robust program, pushing Newsom every step of the way. With an eye toward advancing health equity, which is inextricably linked to housing status, they fought hard to ensure that the state’s original, diluted version of an eviction moratorium gained some heft and that key loopholes were closed before Newsom added his signature. They also urged him to extend the moratorium when it became clear that the pandemic — and its economic implications — would outlast the legislation. “If we’re serious about health equity, we’ve really got to take a very square and sharp focus on preventing evictions.” Will Dominie As BMSG offered support to the effort, we realized there were many lessons learned that could aid housing and health justice advocates across the country. However, until now, the work was too fast-paced to reflect on the group’s accomplishments and consider insights for future media advocacy efforts. And, make no mistake, more work remains. The moratorium expired in October, and COVID continues to surge in many locations, with public health experts expecting the pandemic’s financial and health effects to continue for months, or even years, to come. What’s more, our housing system was fractured long before the virus claimed its first victim, making it even more important to analyze — and, hopefully, replicate — victories. “Preventing evictions and keeping people in their homes is fundamental to our health and our well-being,” explained Will Dominie, former policy manager of housing and equitable development at the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII), in a recent interview. “And housing instability is deeply inequitable by race, class, immigration status, and gender. I think if we’re serious about people’s health, and then if we’re serious about health equity, we’ve really got to take a very square and sharp focus on preventing evictions.” BARHII, a coalition of Bay Area health departments, was one of many groups that joined a statewide housing justice coalition, which led the charge to prevent evictions during COVID. While Housing Now! California, a diverse movement-building coalition, spearheaded statewide anti-eviction efforts along with Tenants Together, BARHII brought a specific focus on health impacts and mobilized public health groups. The eviction moratorium was just one of many victories the groups celebrated, from securing funds to help communities burdened by debt to fighting to ensure that those funds would be distributed fairly and equitably. Throughout their year-and-a-half-long campaign, the coalition and its communication workgroup (which included Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Public Advocates, Western Center on Law & Poverty, PICO CA, Housing CA, San Francisco Tenants Union, BARHII, and BMSG) used many tactics, including rapid-response data collection and the release of a report, to create narrative and policy change, while building capacity to advance racial and health equity. To learn more about their work and its implications for other advocates in health, housing, and beyond, we spoke with BARHII’s Dominie, as well as Francisco Dueñas, director of Housing Now!; Rev. Rae Chen Huang, senior organizer at Housing Now! and former organizer with Healthy LA Coalition; and Melissa Jones, executive director of BARHII. Here are a few key communication and narrative-change lessons, based on their insights: 1. Organizing and coalition-building form the foundation for narrative change. Collaboration and partnerships yield many benefits. First, different groups bring different perspectives with them, allowing coalitions to develop the most thorough and precise view of the problem, which is necessary for envisioning the most effective solutions. Second, combining resources gives coalitions greater reach. And third, having a range of voices offers greater flexibility in messaging. The housing coalition realized all of these benefits quickly. Having multiple partners allowed them to “reach people where they’re at, and to be able to transmit [their] message differently based on where everybody’s coming from,” Dueñas said, noting that a health group is going to be able to work with the California nurses’ union to bring their voice to the effort, while a tenant-organizing group is going to be positioned to talk to elected officials about what their members are experiencing. “We’re just all coming from different places and are able to add our point of views, in order to say, ‘Here’s why I care abo... --- ## How advocates can more effectively counter industry efforts to block sugary drink taxes URL: https://www.bmsg.org/how-advocates-can-more-effectively-counter-industry-efforts-to-block-sugary-drink-taxes/ Type: post Modified: 2021-11-19 Words: 1700 > In 2012, voters in two California cities went to the ballot box to consider taxing soda and other sugary drinks to improve community health. The measures failed, but advocates learned... In 2012, voters in two California cities went to the ballot box to consider taxing soda and other sugary drinks to improve community health. The measures failed, but advocates learned lessons that would help them pass future taxes in other cities like Berkeley, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Public and policymaker support for such taxes has grown considerably since then; however, the beverage industry remains a formidable opponent and, for every success story, public health advocates have another tale of struggle or defeat. For example, after Seattle approved a sugary drinks tax in 2017 and implemented it the following year, voters passed a ballot initiative to prohibit Washington state from imposing new taxes or fees on any grocery item. And last summer, amid the pandemic, Washington, D.C. Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau withdrew legislation that would have leveraged a sugary drinks tax to decrease health disparities, citing insufficient support and beverage industry obstruction. To learn more about these campaigns and the communication strategies behind them, Berkeley Media Studies group (BMSG), with support from the American Heart Association’s Voices for Healthy Kids initiative, conducted a thorough media analysis of the campaigns in Seattle and Washington, D.C. This new research, which builds on a decade of similar analyses of media coverage from other cities, explores how arguments for and against soda taxes are reported in the news. By studying these news frames, we can better understand how readers, including lawmakers, perceive public health problems and what to do about them. Our current and prior analyses are available on the BMSG website. Drawing from the victories and challenges of past campaigns, they offer strategic communication insights for future efforts to tax sugary drinks. Below is a summary of key recommendations from our findings: Avoid jargon. “Health equity” and “racial equity” are common terms within the field of public health, and they are beginning to show up in news coverage. However, they are still not widely used outside of the advocacy sphere and may cause confusion or, worse, fuel opposition arguments against taxes. For example, an op-ed opposing the tax in D.C. dismissed the use of the term “equity” as merely the “term du jour,” creating an opportunity for detractors to sow confusion and doubt. To avoid this trap, advocates should be prepared to discuss racial and health equity without relying on those terms. To do so, it can be helpful to think of ways to “show,” not “tell,” the audience about systemic and structural barriers to health. Giving concrete examples is critical. As we often say at BMSG, it’s better to say “chair” than “furniture,” and it’s even better to say “recliner” than “chair.” When the term “equity” is unavoidable, be certain to define the term. If your meaning isn’t clear, your target audience will be more vulnerable to rhetoric — including misinformation — from the opposition. Ensure diverse communities are centered, resourced, and respected as leaders throughout the campaign. If you don’t, industry will co-opt narratives on race and class. In both organizing and communication, advocates must continually center the communities who would benefit the most from a tax. The beverage industry routinely describes sugary drink taxes as regressive, emphasizing that low-income and communities of color will feel the biggest effects from the tax. By focusing narrowly on the point of purchase, the industry uses this frame to distract residents from the social and health costs of its products and sales tactics, which disproportionately harm low-income families and communities of color. Beverage marketers target these populations with ads for cheap, nutritionally empty drinks that are high in sugar, increase the risks of type 2 diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, and are nearly ubiquitous in places already experiencing higher rates of diet-related diseases. “In San Francisco, the communities with the highest hospitalization rates for type-2 diabetes are the same communities with the highest rates of soda consumption,” explained physician and former Richmond Councilmember Jeff Ritterman in a blog that summarized the inequitable health consequences of sugary drinks. “Type-2 diabetes is far more costly and far more regressive than any soda tax ever could be.” If advocates don’t elevate the roles of racism and classism in sugary drink targeted marketing, the beverage industry will be free to frame those issues from its own profit-driven perspective. In Seattle news coverage, for instance, one article argued that the tax would “punish white people.” Establishing diverse leadership, as many campaigns have done, is critical to countering such narratives. Additionally, advocates must include healthy and affordable alternatives in their messaging when asking communities to cut down on sugary drinks. Some of the new tax revenue could address this problem if safe, no-cost dri... --- ## Communicating about the Nutrition Equity Amendment Act of 2021: An analysis of news, social media, and campaign materials URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-about-the-nutrition-equity-amendment-act-of-2021-an-analysis-of-news-social-media-and-campaign-materials/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 7840 > Public health practitioners around the world are excited about the potential of sugary drink taxes for protecting the public’s health. Based on the success of the first sugary drink taxes... Public health practitioners around the world are excited about the potential of sugary drink taxes for protecting the public’s health. Based on the success of the first sugary drink taxes in Berkeley, California,1 the Navajo Nation,2 and Philadelphia,3 and the long history of successful tobacco taxes, we know that sugary drink taxes could help ensure that whole communities avoid premature death from type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other nutrition-related chronic illnesses. Sugary drink taxes also generate needed revenue for cities that have been economically devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cities including San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Denver have used sugary drink taxes to fund food and nutrition programs,4,5 renovations to outdoor spaces,6 and other community needs during pandemic-related shutdowns. The most recent effort to pass a tax on sugary drinks in Washington, D.C., was intended to raise funds to reduce long-standing health inequities in the city. On March 29, 2021, six of Washington, D.C.’s, city council members introduced the Nutrition Equity Amendment Act of 2021. Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau, who spoke on behalf of the group, cited persistent and pervasive health disparities “made even more apparent by the COVID-19 pandemic”7 as the catalyst for the proposal. Opponents and proponents of the D.C. proposal debated the legislation in the media. News coverage provides a window into the public narrative about any issue because news shapes the public and policy agendas.8,9,10,11 Journalists’ decisions about how to cover the many pressing topics of the day can raise the profile of an issue; whereas issues not covered by the news media are often neglected and remain largely outside public discourse and policy debate.10,12 News coverage influences how issues are perceived and discussed13,14 including, for example, whose perspectives are seen as credible and valuable, which solutions are elevated or ignored, and how arguments are characterized. About the Nutrition Equity Amendment Act The Nutrition Equity Amendment Act proposed to implement an excise tax of $0.015 per ounce on the distribution of sugar-sweetened beverages in Washington D.C, a replacement for the pre-existing 8% sales tax on soft drinks (defined as “a beverage with a natural or artificial sweetener that contains less than 100% juice; or a beverage that is less than 50% milk, soy or other milk substitutes; or coffee, coffee substitutes, cocoa, or tea”a). The initiative was expected to raise $22-30 million in revenue to fund improvements in access to healthy food, expansion of nutrition education programming, and extension of local grocers to communities without access to healthy food. The intended primary beneficiaries of these programs were local families, and individuals housed in shelters and transitional housing in D.C. During the proposal’s first public hearing in May 2021 many small business owners spoke against the tax. The Alliance for an Affordable DC, a community group bankrolled by the American Beverage Association, enlisted small business owners, many of them people of color, to highlight “the devastating economic consequences a new tax would have on D.C. residents, especially as [the] community begins to recover from the pandemic.”16 Councilmember Nadeau withdrew the Nutrition Equity Amendment Act on June 11, citing insufficient support. In her statement, she accused the beverage industry of “standing in the way of community-based solutions to address health disparities.”16 a Office of the Chief Financial Officer. Tax Rates and Revenues, Sales and Use Taxes, Alcoholic Beverage Taxes and Tobacco Taxes. Accessed September 7, 2021. https://cfo.dc.gov/page/tax-rates-and-revenues-sales-and-use-taxes-alcoholic-beverage-taxes-and-tobacco-taxes. Across all forms of media, social and health issues are portrayed through a complex process of organizing information to create meaning; this process is known as framing.9,14,15 As they cover stories, journalists select certain arguments, examples, images, messages, and sources to create a picture of the issue. The selection — or omission — of arguments and voices works like a frame around a picture, drawing our attention to what information is important and excluding other information. We are concerned with how the news frames public health and social justice issues because frames foster certain understandings and hinder others. Because of the great potential sugary beverage taxes have for improving population health and addressing inequities, we also wanted to see how news outlets’ social media platforms (which can also drive news and political agendas) framed the most recent effort to institute a tax. In this report, we present an overview of past research on sugary drink taxes in news coverage and share findings from an analysis of news and social media coverage of the Nutrition Equity Amendment Act. Sugary drink taxes in the news: An overview of BMSG’s research Berkeley Med... --- ## Communicating about vaccines: How to discuss racial equity in vaccine uptake URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-about-vaccines-how-to-discuss-racial-equity-in-vaccine-uptake/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 659 > To help ensure equitable vaccination rates in all neighborhoods, public health advocates and practitioners must center communities of color in their messages. Being silent on racism allows vaccine opponents to... To help ensure equitable vaccination rates in all neighborhoods, public health advocates and practitioners must center communities of color in their messages. Being silent on racism allows vaccine opponents to invoke medical oppression in their communication, stoking further division, hesitancy, and distrust. This video, the third in a series from BMSG, offers strategic communication tips for advancing racial and health equity in immunizations. Transcript [KIM GARCIA, BMSG RESEARCHER]: Communities of color have many reasons for having hesitancy around vaccines. Medical racism and medical oppression have been experienced and continue to be experienced by people of color. There’s also a lack of representation of providers — medical providers and even public health practitioners, who we see in our communities who may not look like us, and so there’s a barrier of trust that needs to be built when we don’t see ourselves or see our lived experiences represented. [NARRATOR]: So, how do we go about building trust with community partners? For starters, public health advocates and practitioners cannot stay silent on racial inequity and the structures that create it. [GARCIA]: To leave race out of the conversation is really leaving it up to vaccine opponents to take up that issue themselves. We found that vaccine opponents bring up instances of medical racism and medical oppression ultimately to undermine trust in the medical system. By using race to divide us, they’re turning us against each other, they’re turning us against medical providers and government overall. [NARRATOR]: When advocates address racial equity in messages about vaccines, they must go beyond acknowledging past harms. [SHADDAI MARTINEZ-CUESTAS, BMSG HEAD OF TRAINING]: Focusing on hesitancy has been a way to deflect responsibility for equitable distribution on the front end. [NARRATOR]: To make sure their messages don’t reinforce hesitancy, advocates must also discuss structural barriers, many of which predate the pandemic. [GARCIA]: Lack of health insurance, lack of transportation, lack of housing that gives someone a safe and stable place to even think about getting vaccinated in the first place. We know that, for example, even your zip code could be shaping your risk for exposure. We also we can talk about lack of protections that are in place for frontline and essential workers, who are predominantly people of color. And so, that really points to someone in power who can put those protections in place. So, when we talk about the landscape, when we talk about the structures that can hinder people’s access to vaccines, we can then point to solutions that are structural and systemic solutions. Rather than “this person needs to be able to get a vaccine,” but, “how can we improve our structures and systems so that all people can get vaccines?” [MARTINEZ-CUESTAS]: I want to point out an article by Politico that it is focusing on the systems instead of just blaming individuals. The chief medical executive of Minnesota has a really great quote in this article, talking about how the best public health happens when you go into neighborhoods and when you’re working with communities and how it is the duty and responsibility for public health to go to where their communities are at. [NARRATOR]: Advocates can also advance equity by including values in their messages. [GARCIA]: When we talk about vaccines, we’re really thinking about the greater good, our collective, our community. These are the values that we hold because we know that communities of color are being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Vaccine opponents, on the other hand, tend to use a very individual frame; they really look at my personal choices, my personal freedoms. That creates greater division and, if we stay silent on racial equity from a public health side, vaccine opponents will only continue to stoke those divisions. --- ## Communicating about COVID: A conversation with reporters URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/communicating-about-covid-a-conversation-with-reporters/ Type: events Modified: 2022-01-20 Words: 92 > Berkeley Media Studies Group, in partnership with the Together Toward Health Initiative, hosted a panel event featuring three California reporters from national, radio, and ethnic media outlets. Event participants were... Berkeley Media Studies Group, in partnership with the Together Toward Health Initiative, hosted a panel event featuring three California reporters from national, radio, and ethnic media outlets. Event participants were TTH grantees, health department staff, and other public health advocates. Panelists Anh Do, a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, Nadia Lopez, a Latino communities reporter at The Fresno Bee, and Maria Eraña, director of broadcasting at Radio Bilingüe, gave participants invaluable tips and insight for advocates hoping to harness the power of the news to influence systems-level change. --- ## Introduction to media advocacy and strategic communications URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/introduction-to-media-advocacy-and-strategic-communications/ Type: events Modified: 2022-01-20 Words: 61 > In two separate trainings with San Francisco State University public health graduate students, BMSG staff covered the fundamentals of media advocacy and strategic communications. Students applied training materials to class... In two separate trainings with San Francisco State University public health graduate students, BMSG staff covered the fundamentals of media advocacy and strategic communications. Students applied training materials to class work on public health topics ranging from domestic abuse to youth mental health. Students also had the opportunity to practice delivering the messages they created in highly engaging mock interview activities. --- ## Warning: Don’t let the beverage industry harm your kids URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/warning-dont-let-the-beverage-industry-harm-your-kids/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 138 > Recent research has found that countermarketing campaigns can be an effective way to reduce the demand for sugary drinks by exposing the beverage industry's manipulative behavior, in much the same... Recent research has found that countermarketing campaigns can be an effective way to reduce the demand for sugary drinks by exposing the beverage industry’s manipulative behavior, in much the same way that anti-tobacco campaigns successfully villainized Big Tobacco. However, as BMSG Director Dr. Lori Dorfman points out in this commentary for AJPH, grassroots health messages rarely have the same reach as well-funded efforts like the original “Truth” campaign, which was funded using money from a tobacco settlement. And while social media is cheap, platforms like Facebook are part of the problem, as they are among the world’s largest junk food marketers. Read the commentary to learn the steps Dr. Dorfman recommends for ensuring that anti-soda countermarketing campaigns are as effective as possible. View the full commentary in AJPH > --- ## Introduction to media advocacy and strategic communication with Prevention Institute URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/prevention-institute-introduction-to-media-advocacy-and-strategic-communication/ Type: events Modified: 2022-01-20 Words: 75 > In this two-part training for the Prevention Institute's Built Environment Advocacy Fund grantees, BMSG staff covered the fundamentals of media advocacy and strategic communication, including crafting an overall strategic that... In this two-part training for the Prevention Institute’s Built Environment Advocacy Fund grantees, BMSG staff covered the fundamentals of media advocacy and strategic communication, including crafting an overall strategic that informs the development of concise, compelling messaging about the built environment in Los Angeles, California. Participants also learned about media strategy (deciding how to best reach your target, and when media would best impact the decision-making process) and practiced message delivery. --- ## Media advocacy and strategic communications series with the All Children Thrive Initiative URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/all-children-thrive-initiative-media-advocacy-and-strategic-communications-series/ Type: events Modified: 2022-01-20 Words: 56 > In this five-part virtual training for All Children Thrive Initiative grantees, BMSG staff covered the fundamentals of media advocacy and strategic communications and message development. Workshops included how to deliver... In this five-part virtual training for All Children Thrive Initiative grantees, BMSG staff covered the fundamentals of media advocacy and strategic communications and message development. Workshops included how to deliver compelling, concise messages in high-stakes environments, how to get your issue in the news, and how to write convincing opinion letters to frame issues. --- ## Communicating about vaccines: Illuminating the context for access and hesitancy [video] URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-about-vaccines-illuminating-the-context-for-access-and-hesitancy-video/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 717 > To boost vaccine rates, public health practitioners and advocates need more than just compelling messages; we also must confront the practical barriers that make it hard for some people to... To boost vaccine rates, public health practitioners and advocates need more than just compelling messages; we also must confront the practical barriers that make it hard for some people to access the vaccine — and credible information about it. In this video, the second in a series from BMSG, we discuss the context for why vaccination rates are lagging in some communities. Learn more about COVID-related communication and view other videos at www.bmsg.org/covid-19. Transcript [NARRATOR]: There’s no shortage of news about COVID-19 vaccination rates. Stories about state and national rankings, pockets of vaccine hesitancy, and the health consequences of being unvaccinated routinely make headlines. Less common are stories that make visible the context for whether people can easily access the vaccine and credible information about it. BMSG’s research team has gained insight into what’s missing from conversations surrounding vaccination, after studying news coverage of the issue. [PAMELA MEJIA, BMSG HEAD OF RESEARCH]: One of my favorite quotes that came from the research that we did was from a physician who talked about vaccine deserts. So, these are places where access to vaccination sites is very, very limited: There might be very few of them; they might have limited hours, limited staff; they might be difficult to access via public transportation; they might be difficult to access financially. Communities that have been marginalized and tend to be ignored for things like healthy food, for health care facilities, etc., they also tend to be ignored and left out of access to vaccination sites. As advocates and practitioners — as people who want to increase rates of vaccination — we have to illustrate for folks that sometimes many people want to be vaccinated, but they simply can’t. [NARRATOR]: Although stories illustrating access issues are relatively rare, our researchers did find some good examples. In this article from The Washington Post, the executive director of the American Public Health Association explains why it’s important to expand coverage in ways that highlight practical barriers. He says, quote, “If you’ve got to take two buses and walk a few blocks, plus hesitancy, where is the incentive to go get that shot?” Another factor hindering vaccination rates is a lack of access to trustworthy information about it. [PAMELA MEJIA, BMSG HEAD OF RESEARCH]: There is a long history of misinformation and disinformation from vaccine-hesitant or vaccine-skeptical folks. It’s interesting that they — that vaccine opponents tend to sow a lot of distrust of medical science and medical professionals because, at the same time, they try to evoke or mimic medical professionals and medical work. When we were doing our analysis of documents, we found a number of fact sheets from organizations like the CDC, and we also found fact sheets that looked almost identical in terms of their layout, their formatting, some of their language choices, etc., but they came from vaccine-hesitant or vaccine-skeptical organizations. There’s no way of knowing what the individual media environment or messaging environment somebody’s been exposed to is, which makes it doubly important that we be reflective of and acknowledge access issues, and, you know, really be prepared to talk about some of the uncomfortable questions that people may have. We need each other’s help in figuring out where to go and where to ask questions and what information to trust when it comes to vaccinations. Look at who’s providing the information — whether it’s from a reputable source or not. If data is being cited, is it coming from a reputable place, or, um, is it sourced at all? If data is presented without a citation, that’s a sign that this might not be a very good source. And look at the timeliness; look at how current the information that’s being presented is. Establishing that there are questions, there is competing information, that there can be a lot of confusing and conflicting information in the world is an important step towards making people feel heard. It’s kind of a way of acknowledging our shared humanity. For more tips on communicating effectively about COVID-19 and vaccines, visit bmsg.org/covid-19. --- ## Abundant Birth Project framing analysis URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/abundant-birth-project-framing-analysis/ Type: events Modified: 2022-01-20 Words: 106 > During this three-part virtual workshop with Expecting Justice staff and researchers, BMSG staff collaborated with EJ staff to conduct a framing analysis on media coverage of the Abundant Birth Project.... During this three-part virtual workshop with Expecting Justice staff and researchers, BMSG staff collaborated with EJ staff to conduct a framing analysis on media coverage of the Abundant Birth Project. ABP aims to address the racial gap in preterm birth by targeting Black and Pacific Islander birthing people with guaranteed, no-strings-attached income. Participants discussed how staff can counter negative stereotyping of program participants, which values can support a positive frame of the project that can move the conversation towards public funding in the future, and how to respond to tough questions about the program. BMSG staff also provided recommendations based on this analysis. --- ## Message development and truth sandwich training with Together Towards Health URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/together-towards-health-message-development-and-truth-sandwich-training/ Type: events Modified: 2022-01-20 Words: 47 > In this two-part virtual workshop with Together Toward Health grantees, BMSG staff covered how to use the components of a message to develop compelling messages that lead with values and... In this two-part virtual workshop with Together Toward Health grantees, BMSG staff covered how to use the components of a message to develop compelling messages that lead with values and address misinformation. Participants also practiced using “truth sandwiches” to dispel misinformation without repeating lies. --- ## Understanding violence and prevention during a pandemic URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/understanding-violence-and-prevention-during-a-pandemic/ Type: events Modified: 2021-10-21 Words: 117 > During this Oct. 7 webinar, BMSG and our partners at the Hope and Heal fund shared findings from the release of our new publication, Understanding Violence and Prevention During a... During this Oct. 7 webinar, BMSG and our partners at the Hope and Heal fund shared findings from the release of our new publication, Understanding Violence and Prevention During a Pandemic. This report reveals shifts in coverage related to the three major types of day-to-day gun violence (including firearm suicide, domestic violence incidents, and community-level violence), and highlights trends in news about police violence and gun sales. We hope this analysis provides a helpful starting point for our partners working to shift and strengthen news narratives about guns, gun violence, and their impact on communities of color in California and beyond. View the recording here. To download a copy of the slides, click here. --- ## Media Spokesperson Training: Lending Our Voices for Equity Investment URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/media-spokesperson-training-lending-our-voices-for-equity-investment/ Type: events Modified: 2022-01-19 Words: 56 > In this interactive, virtual two-part series with members of the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII), BMSG covered how participants could align their communication strategy with their COVID equitable... In this interactive, virtual two-part series with members of the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII), BMSG covered how participants could align their communication strategy with their COVID equitable recovery policy goals. The trainings also covered how to communicate about policy goals in high stakes situations, such as media interviews or with key stakeholders. --- ## Understanding violence and prevention during a pandemic: California news about guns, gun violence, and firearm suicide, 2020-2021 URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/understanding-violence-prevention-pandemic-california-news-guns-gun-violence-firearm-suicide/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 3987 > Gun violence and firearm suicide are preventable — but news coverage often obscures that fact: We know from decades of research that, in general, news coverage of different kinds of... Gun violence and firearm suicide are preventable — but news coverage often obscures that fact: We know from decades of research that, in general, news coverage of different kinds of violence can stoke fear by focusing narrowly on the details of the most extreme cases, obscuring solutions,1, 2 and reinforcing the sense that the problem is inescapable and unchangeable. That’s why a key component of stopping gun violence and firearm suicide in America is understanding the complete picture of these public health crises, as well as what can be done — and is being done — in communities across the country to prevent harm or support survivors of violence. In 2020, discussions about violence, and gun violence in particular, took on new importance as the global COVID-19 pandemic spurred historic increases in gun sales3 and concerns about mental health and family violence among families and individuals in quarantine.4 Following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in the summer of 2020, nationwide protests against police brutality and structural racism put police violence and officer-involved shootings in the spotlight.5 We wanted to know: How have gun violence and firearm suicide appeared in California news amid the pandemic and nationwide protests about police brutality? How has the volume of news coverage about gun violence changed in recent years? What types of gun violence receive the most coverage? At Berkeley Media Studies Group, we believe that the news provides an important window into public discourse and has a strong influence on what people and policymakers understand and how they understand it. We wanted to know: How have gun violence and firearm suicide appeared in California news amid the unprecedented events of 2020 and early 2021? And how has coverage of gun violence changed over the past several years, since our last study of this issue? We present here a quantitative analysis of California news published between January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021. These findings build in part on a study we released in June of 2018 titled “More Than Mass Shootings: Gun Violence Narratives in California News,”6 part of a long-term partnership between BMSG and the Hope and Heal Fund focused on examining and shifting the news narrative around gun violence and firearm suicide. That report evaluated California news about three major types of day-to-day gun violence, including firearm suicide, domestic violence incidents involving guns, and community-level violence (also known as street violence) involving guns. Our analysis found significant gaps in the coverage, such as limited news about firearm suicide and domestic violence involving guns, and the persistent use of language and images in the news that could reinforce harmful stereotypes about communities of color, particularly young Black and Brown men. That analysis also surfaced gaps in news coverage of police-involved acts of gun violence, though that issue was not a major focus of the report. The following analysis not only documents how often the issues from our previous analysis (gun-related suicide, domestic violence, and community violence) appeared in English- and Spanish-language news; we also expanded the scope of this study to explore gun sales and police violence in response to a surge in the number of guns in circulation7 and the Black Lives Matter movement building the largest protests in U.S. history.8 What we did We searched the Lexis-Nexis database for print and online news published between January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021 in 118 English- and Spanish-language California newspapers. We selected these dates to capture the impact of various gun violence incidents on the news cycle: the statewide stay-at-home order (March 19, 2020); police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis (May 25, 2020); the attack on the U.S. Capitol by armed supporters of Donald Trump (January 6, 2021); and mass shootings in an Atlanta spa and a Boulder grocery store that took place within one week (March 16, 2021 and March 22, 2021). To enable comparisons with our prior research, we replicated the search terms we used in our prior study to capture English-language articles about domestic violence, community violence, and suicide related to guns. We updated our previous search terms for Spanish-language articles to be more comprehensive. We also designed new search strings to capture news about topics we didn’t explore in the previous analysis: news about gun sales, particularly among first-time buyers, and stories about police violence, including shootings and any use of deadly force. We collected these stories over the same time period and evaluated the volume of coverage these search terms would have yielded had we run them during the prior study period (October 15, 2016 to October 14, 2017). For English-language news, we searched for keywords related to issues like racism, prevention, and community action in the lead paragraphs of stories (see Appendix 1 for a com... --- ## Introduction of media advocacy and strategic communications with Touro University URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/events/introduction-of-media-advocacy-and-strategic-communications-with-touro-university/ Type: events Modified: 2022-05-17 Words: 64 > BMSG facilitated an introductory training on media advocacy and strategic communications for Touro University MPH students, mostly in the physician assistant field. The training explored how students can leverage their... BMSG facilitated an introductory training on media advocacy and strategic communications for Touro University MPH students, mostly in the physician assistant field. The training explored how students can leverage their position as health care professionals to serve as powerful spokespersons and/or allies for advocacy campaigns, and how to address public health issues with an upstream perspective that highlights root causes and structural solutions. --- ## How California news about gun violence has evolved amid the pandemic, protests against police brutality, and journalists’ commitments to improve coverage URL: https://www.bmsg.org/how-california-news-about-gun-violence-has-evolved-amid-the-pandemic-protests-against-police-brutality-and-journalists-commitments-to-improve-coverage/ Type: post Modified: 2021-10-07 Words: 658 > This spring, a group of journalists from a range of news outlets, including The Trace, The Washington Post, and The Guardian, met to discuss how the media can more effectively... This spring, a group of journalists from a range of news outlets, including The Trace, The Washington Post, and The Guardian, met to discuss how the media can more effectively cover gun violence. Together, they pledged to allocate more time and resources to the issue, make clear its connections to racism and health disparities, and go beyond mass shootings to cover other, more common forms of gun violence. New report coming soon! This commitment comes as advocates have voiced concerns about the extent of our country’s gun violence and firearm suicide crisis, as firearm deaths and injuries have both increased amid the pandemic, with nearly 4,000 additional gun deaths and more than 9,000 additional gun injuries in 2020 than in 2019. While top public health officials remain focused, understandably, on increasing vaccine access and vaccination rates as COVID-19 continues to ravage communities, reporters and advocates alike want to ensure that gun violence, which has been labeled a health crisis by the American Medical Association and American Public Health Association, still commands the attention it deserves. The good news, according to a new study from the Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG), is that guns and gun violence are garnering significant media attention, with outlets in California increasing their coverage of the issues in recent years. “It’s encouraging that journalists are taking gun violence seriously and making good on their promises to help the public better understand this major public health issue,” said Pamela Mejia, who leads the research team at BMSG. Print and online news about gun violence appearing in California media outlets, relative to the total volume of news, increased by 25% in English-language outlets and 60% in Spanish-language outlets in 2020-2021, compared to 2016-2017, researchers found. The study, part of a larger collaboration between BMSG and the Hope and Heal Fund, revealed several other promising findings: news coverage of police violence is on the rise, accounting for much of the total increase in California news about gun violence; reporters are increasingly identifying the role of racism in perpetuating violence, with 25% of articles about police violence mentioning “racism” in the lead paragraph; and prevention is gaining visibility, with 10% of gun violence news stories addressing prevention in the lead paragraph. This is up from just 3% in our previous analysis. The BMSG team also explored how firearm suicide, community violence, and domestic violence appeared in coverage, as well as how much visibility gun sales received in the news. However, more research is needed, and challenges remain for journalists to continue to improve their approach to reporting. “While it is heartening to see more explicit mentions of racism, police violence, and prevention in the news about gun violence, policymakers and the public still need to hear more about how local solutions can prevent and interrupt gun violence and firearm suicide,” Hope and Heal Fund Director Brian Malte said. “What do solutions look like in practice? What strategies are getting results that could be replicated? How can reporters do more to uplift authentic and trusted community voices?” Given that California’s population is 40% Latinx, Malte also questioned how journalists can better communicate about gun violence to Spanish-speaking audiences, noting that most of California’s Spanish-language coverage came from a single news outlet: La Opinión. Malte and Mejia will join others from BMSG and Hope and Heal for a webinar on Thursday, Oct. 7 at 11 a.m. PT (2 p.m. ET) to answer questions; share more research findings; discuss implications for reporters, advocates, and funders both within and outside of California; and talk about next steps for the fields of violence prevention and journalism. To register for the webinar, visit https://bit.ly/bmsg-report-webinar-oct7. To request an an interview with a BMSG researcher or member of the Hope and Heal Fund, email info@bmsg.org or info@hopeandhealfund.org. View the full report. --- ## Who’s at the primetime table? An analysis of host, contributor, and guest appearances on six weeks of primetime cable news URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/primetime-cable-news-analysis-host-contributor-guest-appearances-media-diversity/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 3091 > Cable news programming offers a window into public debate for a broad swath of Americans, including many older and politically active audiences. Its reach has been magnified by the events... Cable news programming offers a window into public debate for a broad swath of Americans, including many older and politically active audiences. Its reach has been magnified by the events of 2020 and 2021,1 including a global pandemic that kept people in their homes, a highly publicized national racial reckoning, and a contentious presidential election followed by a violent aftermath at the U.S. Capitol. Cable news amplifies political debate and validates thought leaders and experts in the public square, propelling vital voices who shape policy and can affirm democratic values like equity and inclusion. Black women — especially older Black women who can provide perspectives from potent lived experience as advocates, civic leaders, and experts in a vast array of sectors and subjects — should be among the prominent voices on the coveted primetime lineup of major cable news networks. They are overperformers in electoral politics,2,3 advanced degrees,4,5 and business ownership.6,7 Yet they are often erased from spaces where they should command a place. And older Black women should be visible in cable television news because they represent an important audience for this programming. The three major cable networks — CNN, Fox, MSNBC — all skew toward older viewers, and a majority of women comprise MSNBC and CNN audiences,8 which both enjoy a Black viewership larger than their percentage in the general population. In short, we wanted to know: Given all their contributions to public and political life, are older Black women visible on primetime cable news? We zeroed in on age, race, and gender for a quantitative snapshot of who the three major networks elevate as experts in the political and cultural debates that shape our world — and, perhaps more importantly, whose voices are left out. Our findings To answer this question, we systematically examined who appears on primetime news programming on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, Monday through Friday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. The review period included nine programs over six weeks from May 24 through June 30, 2021. This period included the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police as well as the inaugural Juneteenth federal holiday — events that both would necessarily be enhanced by perspectives from Black commentators, including Black women. During the six weeks of our analysis, we documented 1,862 appearances by a host, contributor, or guest. Our findings revealed a dearth of Black voices occupying influential seats on primetime cable news. Black women of all ages are sorely missing, but most dramatically, those 55 and older represent a scant 1.6% of all appearances. Of the 1,862 appearances logged during the review period, Black women 55 and older constituted just 21 appearances; though, due to a few multiple bookings, they appeared a total of 28 times. Who’s at the primetime table? Men over 45 who are not Black most frequently appeared on primetime cable news. Across networks, men who did not present or identify as Black appeared most often on primetime cable news, with men over 55 accounting for one in five appearances, followed by men aged 45-54 (see Figure 1). Women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s who did not identify or present as Black accounted for significantly fewer appearances, but still far exceeded appearances by Black men and women of all ages. Figure 1. Proportion by racial, gender, and age presentation of hosts, contributors, and guests on primetime news shows that aired from May 24, 2021 through June 30, 2021 (n=1,862 appearances). Click figure to enlarge. When Black people did appear on cable news, they were most often men aged 55 and over, while older Black women seldom appeared. Black people seldom appeared on cable news — and older Black women were uniquely underrepresented. During the period of our analysis, there were 28 appearances by Black women 55 and over, accounting for 10% of appearances by Black people (see Figure 2), but only 1.6% of all appearances (see Figure 1). By contrast, Black men 55 and over accounted for one-quarter of all appearances by Black people (see Figure 2). Figure 2. Proportion by racial, gender, and age presentation of Black hosts, contributors, and guests on primetime news shows that aired from May 24, 2021 through June 30, 2021 (n=284 appearances by Black people). Click figure to enlarge. When Black women 55 and over did appear, they most often were guests on MSNBC: 4% of all appearances on the network were made by Black women in this age range. The Rachel Maddow Show had the highest percentage of Black women 55 and over as guests (6% of all appearances on the show). Other networks featured Black women 55 and over even less frequently. Only 1% of all appearances of CNN were by Black women 55 and over, and Black women 55 and over appeared even less often (< 1%) on FOX. Indeed, only one Black woman 55 and over appeared on the FOX News Primetime show, and no older Black women at all appeared on Hannity or Tucke... --- ## Communicating about vaccines: Investing in trusted messengers [video] URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-about-vaccines-investing-in-trusted-messengers-video/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 632 > As the Delta variant surges, it’s more critical than ever to communicate with the public in ways that foster trust. In this new video, the first in a new series... As the Delta variant surges, it’s more critical than ever to communicate with the public in ways that foster trust. In this new video, the first in a new series from Berkeley Media Studies Group, BMSG offers strategic communication tips to help public health advocates and practitioners do just that. Check it out and learn more about COVID-related communication at www.bmsg.org/covid-19. Transcript [NARRATOR]: Vaccines save lives. We know that from research, but many people remain hesitant to get their shots. To boost confidence in the vaccine, we not only need to give people access to it in places they trust, but we also need to deliver accurate information about it through trusted messengers. [SARAH PEREZ-SANZ, BMSG RESEARCHER] Dr. Anthony Fauci is definitely and expert, but some people may think that, oh, he doesn’t know enough about my family. He’s not an expert in my kids. [SURGEON GENERAL DR. VIVEK MURTHY]: What we have to do is not only get information out there through traditional sources and through the media; it’s working with local nurses and doctors, with teachers, with faith leaders, and others in local communities to make sure they have information that they can use to share. [NARRATOR]: Research from the Berkeley Media Studies Group aligns with the surgeon general’s recommendation. [PEREZ-SANZ]: So, you know, data is important. We collect data as part of our research, but stories are really what drives the data home for people. So, if someone has their own experience from going from vaccine hesitancy to having their kids or themselves fully vaccinated, that journey is really important to share with others. And while we can capture that in our research as data, it really only matters to people if you tell the story of how they went from vaccine hesitant to fully vaccinated. Public health advocates and champions can reach out to find people who have decided to be vaccinated, and who are excited to be vaccinated, and talk to them about what being vaccinated means to them. You can have them author op-eds, letters to the editor, you could even use them as contacts; if a reporter were to call you, you could say, “Hey, you should also talk to so-and-so because they are super excited to get vaccinated, and they have a really great story.” [NARRATOR]: BMSG monitors the news to find out what that looks like in practice. [PEREZ-SANZ]: This article [from The Wall Street Journal] came out right when 12- to 15-year-olds were starting to be able to be vaccinated. So, people were signing up; people were excited to get their kids vaccinated because it’s been a long year and a half. And so this article includes quotes from youth and then also parents. So, there’s just a lot of great voices in this article. First, I want to highlight Elliott Ferris. He’s a 13-year-old, and his mom signed him up for a vaccine appointment at his pediatrician’s office. And Elliott, he was so excited, he said, quote, “That’s so dope!” and that quote “I’ve had such a long year-and-a-half without friends. We’re just so bored and a little bit lonely.” So Elliott really speaks to the fact that, you know, he gave up a lot. He had to sacrifice a lot over this past year. Now that he will be vaccinated, he can get back to doing the things that he loves to do with his friends. For more tips on communicating effectively about COVID-19 and vaccines, visit bmsg.org/covid-19. --- ## Talking about COVID breakthrough infections: Recommendations for public health practitioners URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/talking-about-covid-breakthrough-infections-recommendations-for-health-departments/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 1128 > Media coverage on breakthrough infections in people who are vaccinated make talking about COVID more complicated. We hope these initial talking points will be helpful. As this issue evolves, the... Media coverage on breakthrough infections in people who are vaccinated make talking about COVID more complicated. We hope these initial talking points will be helpful. As this issue evolves, the talking points may evolve as well. Breakthrough infections Reporters often focus on extreme cases — they report on the planes that crash, not the ones that land. We can expect the media to focus on breakthrough cases, and while this is important information, it may dominate the news rather than information about public health’s daily work to ensure people get vaccinated. These talking points will help you answer questions about breakthrough cases without minimizing your main strategies — getting people vaccinated, wearing masks, and using any other protections your health department has approved. We’ve used the “truth sandwich” to structure the talking points because that format has been useful for combating misinformation and communicating complexities. The basic format is to sandwich information on breakthroughs within messages about our core public health efforts: Start with your core message, which emphasizes your values and names your solution, whether it’s getting vaccinated, wearing your mask, social distancing, etc. Acknowledge people’s concerns that these are challenging times, or that they may be worried about the Delta variant. Add a talking point about breakthrough infections, but stay high level rather than getting into extremely detailed information. If possible, avoid repeating false claims about breakthrough infections; doing so may reinforce misinformation. Return back to your core message about getting vaccinated, and reiterate the idea that the more people who get vaccinated the safer everyone in the county will be. Following the sample talking points below, we provide other resources that we have found useful for explaining COVID. Sample talking points Example main message: Like most of you, we wish COVID were over, but it is not. The most important things we can do for one another while we are still learning about the Delta variant are get vaccinated and wear our masks indoors. These are the best protections we have. If you are unvaccinated or have friends and family who are unvaccinated, we can answer questions you have if you contact us [add info]. Using masks, vaccines, and social distancing is like wearing a seatbelt, having airbags, and driving the speed limit. All of those help keep you, and those around you, safer when you are driving. Breakthrough message: We know people are concerned about breakthrough infections. The good news is that as more people protect themselves, the less COVID will be circulating in our county, which means fewer breakthroughs, fewer severe cases of COVID, fewer hospitalizations, and fewer deaths. People who are vaccinated are much less likely to get sick or be hospitalized than those who are unvaccinated. People who protect themselves with vaccines and masks increase their own odds of staying healthy and help our whole community stay healthier. Repeat main message: We know these are challenging times, and we all hoped we would not be seeing the rise in cases. The vast majority of cases are in unvaccinated people, so we want to reach people who need vaccines, answer their questions, and get everyone vaccinated who wants one. In our county, we take care of one another by wearing masks indoors and [add your county’s specific recommendations if they include other protections]. Additional resources Breakthroughs in Provincetown This Twitter thread is explains why as the vaccination rates increase, the percentage of cases that are in vaccinated people will increase. Vaccine hesitancy Planned Parenthood has online training for talking to people about vaccines and a helpful vaccine hesitancy guide with very specific responses to concerns people have. The Colorado Health Foundation’s COVID-19 Vaccine Messaging Guide is based on public opinion research and focuses on messaging strategies for the vaccine-hesitant and for people of color. It is available in English and Spanish. Vaccinating children Parents Together has a helpful document on parental attitudes, which is available here. Metaphors For complex issues, metaphors and analogies can make it easier for people to understand the issue. Here are a few that might be helpful. Swiss cheese metaphor (helpful for talking about masks and vaccines): Each layer of protection, like vaccines, masks, and social distancing, is like a slice of Swiss cheese. No one layer is perfect, but when you stack multiple layers, they protect you and those around you. Driving (helpful for talking about the need for masks and vaccines): Wearing your mask while you are vaccinated is like using your seatbelt, driving at safe speeds, and having air bags. They keep you and the people around you safe. Smoking (helpful for talking about vaccine hesitancy): It used to be that smoking was considered an individual decision, but people saw it differently ... --- ## Comunicación acerca de la vacuna contra el COVID-19: Guía y mensajes de muestra para trabajadores de salud pública URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/comunicacion-acerca-de-la-vacuna-contra-el-covid-19-guia-y-mensajes-de-muestra-para-trabajadores-de-salud-publica/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 3711 > La ciencia es clara: las vacunas salvan vidas. Pero, a pesar de la cantidad abrumadora de evidencia sobre su eficacia, las vacunas continúan siendo un asunto contencioso, con municipios alrededor... La ciencia es clara: las vacunas salvan vidas. Pero, a pesar de la cantidad abrumadora de evidencia sobre su eficacia, las vacunas continúan siendo un asunto contencioso, con municipios alrededor del país recibiendo resistencia fuerte en respuesta a sus esfuerzos de implementar programas de vacunación. Con el comienzo de la pandemia global del COVID-19, y el avance en desarrollar vacunas, el debate ha cobrado aun mayor importancia. Las primeras vacunas contra el COVID-19 estarán disponibles muy pronto en los Estados Unidos. La población tendrá muchas preguntas alrededor de la distribución de la vacuna, y los legisladores, los medios y el público en general están dirigiéndose a los trabajadores de salud pública para obtener información correcta y oportuna. Incluso en estos tiempos tan caóticos, hay cosas que los trabajadores de salud pública pueden hacer para comunicarse efectivamente. Otros temas de salud pública como la práctica del sexo seguro nos han mostrado que es posible modificar a gran escala comportamientos individuales que apoyan a la salud, aunque puede ser un gran reto lograrlo. No hay una solución de comunicación fácil, pero aquí te proveemos algunos consejos para: Comunicarte efectivamente sobre las vacunas contra el COVID-19, u otras vacunas en general, y Poner énfasis en la equidad en tu comunicación. Al final de este documento incluiremos otros consejos para mejorar la comunicación en general. Cuando hables acerca de la vacuna contra el COVID-19, o sobre las vacunas en general, recuerda… Empezar por reconocer la posición de las personas y parte de ahí. La voluntad de vacunarse, para la mayoría de la gente, cae dentro de un rango que va desde la aceptación, a la interrogación, a la duda, hasta el rechazo tal cual. Muchos grupos de personas dentro de ese rango — incluso de personas que tienen la intención de vacunarse — van a tener preguntas acerca de la seguridad de la vacuna, preguntas que necesitarán buenas respuestas, especialmente en relación con la vacuna contra el COVID-19. Aquellos que se oponen a las vacunas se mantienen muy presentes en los debates políticos sobre las vacunas y hacen bastante ruido, lo cual puede generar más dudas. Algunos de los que están considerando la vacuna, pero que tienen preguntas, podrían temer o resentir que se les llame “anti-vacunas” o que sus dudas sean ignoradas o ridiculizadas. Reconoce la posición en la que tu público objetivo está con relación a la vacuna, y evita generalizaciones como decir que la gente que hace preguntas o expresa resistencia son “anti-vacunas.” En vez de eso, usa lenguaje mas flexible como “personas que tienen dudas sobre la vacuna” o “personas con curiosidad sobre la vacuna”, reconoce que la gente está buscando la manera de mantenerse sano y salvo, y asegúrales que tener preguntas es una parte importante de este proceso. Debido a que el público ya está bombardeado con información sobre la pandemia, asegúrate de reconocer que, además de preguntas, tu público objetivo podría tener temores legítimos y profundos sobre la vacuna y la pandemia misma. Los estudios han mostrado que reconocer los temores y dudas sobre temas difíciles puede ayudar a calmar esos temores, aumentar confianza a quienes llevan el mensaje, y evitar la vergüenza y frustración. Cuando reconoces la postura de tu público objetivo hacia las vacunas — junto a las emociones complejas que pueden estar sintiendo — ayudas a que estén abiertos a escuchar lo que quieres decir. Poniéndolo en práctica: Reconocer la posición de las personas y partir de ahí Mensaje de muestra que ayuda a entender el proceso de los estudios clínicos: Sabemos que algunas personas se sienten nerviosas acerca de la vacuna COVID — esto es enteramente razonable. Afortunadamente los investigadores han estado estudiando las vacunas para los coronavirus por varios años, así que no han tenido que empezar desde cero. Los investigadores han estado trabajando intensamente para desarrollar y evaluar a la vacuna, y han compartido información con transparencia, han realizado audiencias en vivo, y pausado los estudios o ensayos clínicos cuando ha sido necesario. Los fabricantes de la vacuna han prometido de que no van a pedir aprobación de la FDA hasta que hayan concluido las pruebas de la fase tres. Todo esto nos ha dado confianza y seguridad en la vacuna – una herramienta clave en nuestra caja de herramientas para desacelerar la propagación de COVID-19 y ayudar a nuestras comunidades a salir adelante. *Hemos sacrificado mucho este año para mantener seguros a nuestros seres queridos y a la comunidad. ** Aunque sabemos que vacunarse no siempre es cómodo, tu puedes desempeñar un papel importante en apoyar a nuestro condado estando al día con las vacunas, incluyendo la vacuna contra la gripe y la vacuna contra el COVID-19 una vez que esté disponible. Si nos mantenemos al día con las vacunas, podemos asegurarnos de que nuestro sacrificio y esfuerzos para combatir el COVID-19 valgan la pena y nos mantenga a todos ... --- ## Niveles de estrategia URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/niveles-de-estrategia/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 104 > Este documento describe el proceso de cuatro pasos de BMSG para planificar la acción política a través de los medios de comunicación, a este proceso lo llamamos los niveles estratégicos.... Este documento describe el proceso de cuatro pasos de BMSG para planificar la acción política a través de los medios de comunicación, a este proceso lo llamamos los niveles estratégicos. El proceso se apega a la idea de que el mensaje nunca debe ser lo primero en lo que nos enfocamos. En lugar de eso el primer paso, y el más importante, es el desarrollar una estrategia general que apoye una campaña de acción política para cambiar políticas públicas. De ahí parte la estrategia de los medios, de mensaje y de acceso a los medios. Descarga > Download the English version > --- ## Hoja de ejercicios: Desarrollo de mensajes URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/hoja-de-ejercicios-desarrollo-de-mensajes/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 72 > Para cambiar políticas de salud pública, es importante para quienes buscamos estos cambios saber cómo comunicarnos de manera estratégica acerca del asunto que queremos abordar, explicar por qué es importante y... Para cambiar políticas de salud pública, es importante para quienes buscamos estos cambios saber cómo comunicarnos de manera estratégica acerca del asunto que queremos abordar, explicar por qué es importante y que es lo que se tiene que hacer para resolver el problema. Usa esta hoja de ejercicios para practicar el desarrollo de mensaje con tu audiencia objetivo en mente. Descarga la hoja de ejercicios > Download the English version > --- ## Estrategia general para planificación de acción política URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/estrategia-general-para-planificacion-de-accion-politica/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 120 > Antes de ir a los medios para traer atención al asunto en el que quieres trabajar, o antes de decidir cual va a ser tu mensaje, es necesario que tengas... Antes de ir a los medios para traer atención al asunto en el que quieres trabajar, o antes de decidir cual va a ser tu mensaje, es necesario que tengas claro cuales son tus metas de abogacía tanto como los pasos que vas a dar para lograrlo. Las preguntas en esta hoja de trabajo te pueden ayudar a identificar la información que necesitas para ir avanzando y cuales son los siguientes pasos por tomar. Piensa en esta hoja como tu guía principal: tu estrategia mediática y tu estrategia de mensaje se derivan de esta estrategia general, de manera que todas tus acciones estén alineadas con tus metas de abogacía. Descarga la hoja de ejercicios > Download the English version > --- ## Perceptions of arguments in support of policies to reduce sugary drink consumption among low-income white, Black, and Latinx parents of young children URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/perceptions-of-arguments-in-support-of-policies-to-reduce-sugary-drink-consumption-among-low-income-white-black-and-latinx-parents-of-young-children/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 81 > Research published in the American Journal of Health Promotion has found that Black and Latinx parents are more likely than white parents to voice support for interventions like sugary drink... Research published in the American Journal of Health Promotion has found that Black and Latinx parents are more likely than white parents to voice support for interventions like sugary drink taxes that could help parents and communities improve children’s health. This finding is notable because it counters the “regressivity” arguments that public health advocates often face during campaigns to pass taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages. Read the full text: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/08901171211030849 --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 341 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit make that unattainable for many people in our communities based on factors like race,... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit make that unattainable for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can make make every community healthier, safer, and more just. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: it influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. To support advocates working to advance housing policies in 22 diverse locations around the country, Berkeley Media Studies Group researchers are explored questions like: How often does news from different cities focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in the news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To learn more about each of the cities we analyzed, please visit the following pages: Atlanta, GeorgiaBaltimore, MarylandBoston, MassachusettsBuffalo, New YorkCharlottesville, VirginiaDallas, TexasDetroit, MichiganHartford, ConnecticutHonolulu, HawaiiLos Angeles, CaliforniaMiami, FloridaMinneapolis, MinnesotaNew Orleans, LouisianaNew York City, New YorkOakland, CaliforniaPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaPhoenix, ArizonaSanta Ana, CaliforniaSeattle, WashingtonTrenton, New JerseyWashington, D.C.Yakima, Washington To further support housing equity advocates in their media advocacy and strategic communication work, BMSG will also release a framing analysis in the fall of 2021 that takes a closer look at how news from around the country frames diverse housing issues. That analysis will explore questions like: When stories that connected housing and health appeared in the news, why? Who was quoted (and who was left out) of the stories? Who was held responsible for ensuring safe, stable, quality housing for everyone? When were racial and health equity issues named in news about housing and health — and when were opportunities to evoke equity missed? We look forward to sharing those findings with you. If you have questions about these resources or the upcoming analysis, please contact info@bmsg.org. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Baltimore URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-baltimore/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 627 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Baltimore focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Baltimore news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in The Baltimore Sun, a key local outlet, between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that the Sun published 18,152 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Only 94 articles focused on housing, representing 0.5% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive; in other words, one article could reference multiple housing topics. About two-thirds of the housing stories (65 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The majority of stories from The Baltimore Sun were about affordable housing (53 articles). The Sun‘s coverage tended to focus on affordable housing while other housing issues were less visible. Advocates could pitch stories that build on the paper’s attention to affordable housing but expand the frame to show how housing issues are interconnected, and how they affect health outcomes. While the news about housing spiked a few times throughout 2020, it ultimately peaked in May 2021 in response to a variety of converging stories (e.g., the resumption of eviction hearings, changes to the federal eviction moratorium, and new local housing policy efforts). Changes in federal, state, and local housing policy can provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate about complex issues with the public. By monitoring news coverage, advocates can piggyback off national and state stories about housing to highlight housing issues specific to their region or city. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Boston URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-boston/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 602 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Boston focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Boston news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in The Boston Globe, a key local outlet, between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. The Globe published 31,207 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Only 329 articles focused on housing, representing 1.1% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive: In other words, one article could reference multiple housing topics. About two-thirds of housing stories (221 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The Globe‘s coverage tends to focus on affordable housing (173 articles) while other housing issues were less visible. Advocates could pitch stories that build on the paper’s attention to affordable housing but expand the frame to show how housing issues are interconnected, and how they affect health outcomes. News about housing peaked in July 2020, when the state of Massachusetts implemented an eviction moratorium. The news peaked again in December 2020 when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered a federal eviction moratorium. Changes in federal, state, and local housing policy can provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate about complex issues with the public. By monitoring news coverage, advocates can piggyback off national and state stories about housing to highlight housing issues specific to their region or city. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Atlanta URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-atlanta/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 616 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Atlanta focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Atlanta news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a key local outlet, between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that the Journal-Constitution published 23,812 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Only 144 articles focused on housing, representing 0.6% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive; in other words, one article could reference multiple housing topics. Half of housing stories (73 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The majority of stories from the Journal-Constitution were about affordable housing (59 articles) or homelessness (59 articles). The Journal-Constitution’s coverage tended to focus on affordable housing and homelessness while other housing issues were less visible. Advocates could pitch stories that build on this attention but expand the frame to show how housing issues are interconnected, and how they all affect health outcomes. News about housing peaked in September 2020, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an eviction moratorium, and again in December 2020 and March 2021, when the moratorium was extended. Changes to federal, state, and local housing policy can provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate about complex issues with the public. By monitoring news coverage, advocates can piggyback off national and state stories about housing to highlight housing issues specific to their region or city. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Buffalo URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-buffalo/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 601 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Buffalo focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Buffalo news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in The Buffalo News, a key local outlet, between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that The Buffalo News published 22,874 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Only 103 articles focused on housing, representing 0.5% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive; in other words, one article could reference multiple housing topics. Just over half of those housing stories (67 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The Buffalo News coverage tended to focus on affordable housing (73 articles) while other housing issues were less visible. Advocates could pitch stories that build on the paper’s attention to affordable housing but expand the frame to show how housing issues are interconnected, and how they all affect health outcomes. News about housing peaked in September 2020, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered an eviction moratorium, and again in January 2021 when the moratoriums were extended. Changes in federal, state, and local housing policy can provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate complex about issues with the public. By monitoring news coverage, advocates can piggyback off national and state stories about housing to highlight housing issues specific to their region or city. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health near Charlottesville URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-near-charlottesville/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 614 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Charlottesville focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Charlottesville news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in The News Leader, a nearby outlet based in Staunton, Virginia,* between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that The News Leader published 1,859 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Only 19 articles focused on housing, representing 1.0% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive; in other words, one article could reference multiple housing issues. Over half of those housing stories (11 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” Given the small size of the outlet, the Leader‘s reporting on housing and its impacts on health is robust in comparison to other outlets in our sample. To expand the coverage further, advocates could pitch stories that show how different areas of housing work are interconnected, and how they all affect health outcomes. While coverage was generally low, articles peaked in June 2020 and again in January 2021, both times due to eviction moratoriums. Changes in federal, state, and local housing policy can provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate about complex issues with the public. By monitoring news coverage, advocates can piggyback off national and state stories about housing to highlight housing issues specific to their region or city. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. *Articles from The Daily Progress, the local Charlottesville paper, were not accessible for analysis via LexisNexis. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Dallas URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-dallas/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 622 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Dallas focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Dallas news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in The Dallas Morning News, a key local outlet, between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that The Dallas Morning News published 13,850 news articles between June 1, 2020 – May 31, 2021. Only 156 articles focused on housing, representing 1.1% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive; in other words, one article could reference multiple housing issues. Half of these housing stories (76 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The Morning News’ coverage tended to focus on affordable housing while other housing issues were less visible. Advocates could pitch stories that build on the paper’s attention to affordable housing but expand the frame to show how housing issues are interconnected, and how they all affect health outcomes. News about housing peaked during a heat wave in July 2020, which posed disproportionate risks for people experiencing homelessness (e.g., dehydration, heat exhaustion, and heat-related deaths). The next peak in April 2021 was related to a variety of converging stories about tenant protections (including rent relief and eviction moratoriums). Changes in federal, state, and local housing policy can provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate about complex issues with the public. By monitoring news coverage, advocates can piggyback off national and state stories about housing to highlight housing issues specific to their region or city. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Detroit URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-detroit/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 616 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Detroit focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Detroit news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in the Detroit Free Press, a key local outlet, between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that the Detroit Free Press published 11,136 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Only 96 articles focused on housing, representing 0.9% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive; in other words, one article could reference multiple housing issues. The majority of housing stories (73 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive: In other words, one article could reference multiple housing issues. The Detroit Free Press’ coverage tended to focus on affordable housing and tenant protections while other housing issues were less visible. Advocates could pitch stories that build on this attention but expand the frame to show how housing issues are interconnected, and how they all affect health outcomes. News about housing peaked in March 2021, when the state of Michigan implemented a new rent aid program and the federal eviction moratorium was extended. Changes in federal, state, and local housing policy can provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate about complex issues with the public. By monitoring news coverage, advocates can piggyback off national and state stories about housing to highlight housing issues specific to their region or city. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Hartford URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-hartford/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 594 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Hartford focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Hartford news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in the Hartford Courant, a key local outlet, between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that the Hartford Courant published 16,070 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Only 109 articles focused on housing, representing 0.7% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive: In other words, one article could reference multiple housing issues. About half of those housing stories (55 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The Hartford Courant‘s coverage tended to focus on affordable housing while other housing issues were less visible. Advocates could pitch stories that build on the paper’s attention to affordable housing but expand the frame to show how housing issues are interconnected, and how they all affect health outcomes. News about housing peaked in August 2020, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered an eviction moratorium, and again in May 2021. Changes in federal, state, and local housing policy could provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate complex issues with the public. By monitoring news coverage, advocates can piggyback off national and state stories about housing to highlight housing issues specific to their region or city. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Honolulu URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-honolulu/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 623 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: it influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Honolulu focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Honolulu news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, a key local outlet, between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that The Honolulu Star-Advertiser published 7,399 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Only 178 articles focused on housing, representing 2.4% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive: In other words, one article could reference multiple housing issues. About half of those housing stories (104 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The Star-Advertiser‘s coverage tended to focus on affordable housing and homelessness while other housing issues were less visible. Advocates could pitch stories that build on this attention but expand the frame to show how housing issues are interconnected, and how they all affect health outcomes. News about housing peaked in June 2020 with a convergence of stories about a controversial local housing development, the murder of a person experiencing homelessness, and rent waivers. We also observed a peak in March 2021 due to news about an extension of the federal eviction moratorium as well as local initiatives to address homelessness. Changes in federal, state, and local housing policy can provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate complex issues with the public. By monitoring news coverage, advocates can piggyback off national and state stories about housing to highlight housing issues specific to their region or city. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Los Angeles URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-los-angeles/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 655 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Los Angeles focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Los Angeles news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in the Los Angeles Times, a key local outlet,* between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that the Los Angeles Times published 21,706 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021; 9,542 of those were local news articles specific to Los Angeles. Only 394 articles focused on housing, representing 4.1% of local news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive; in other words, one article could reference multiple housing issues. The majority of housing stories (285 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The Los Angeles Times’ coverage tended to focus on homelessness while other housing issues were less visible. Advocates could pitch stories that build on the paper’s attention to homelessness but expand the frame to show how housing issues are interconnected, and how they all affect health outcomes. News about housing peaked in September 2020 ahead of the 2020 election. During that election, California voters considered and ultimately rejected Proposition 21, which allowed for the expansion of rent control in California. Changes in federal, state, and local housing policy can provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate about complex issues with the public. By monitoring news coverage, advocates can piggyback off national and state stories about housing to highlight housing issues specific to their region or city. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. *While the Los Angeles Times covers local news and events, the outlet is among the top five outlets circulated nationally and includes national and international coverage. For this analysis, we only included stories that mentioned “Los Angeles.” --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Miami URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-miami/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 602 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Miami focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Miami news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in the Miami Herald, a key local outlet, between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that the Miami Herald published 16,719 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Only 203 articles focused on housing, representing 1.2% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive; in other words, one article could reference multiple housing issues. Over half of those housing stories (136 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The Miami Herald‘s coverage tended to focus on affordable housing while other housing issues were less visible. Advocates could pitch stories that build on the paper’s attention to affordable housing but expand the frame to show how housing issues are interconnected, and how they all affect health outcomes. News about housing peaked in July 2020 when the state of Florida approved a last-minute extension of the eviction moratorium in the midst of a surge in COVID-19 infections. Changes in federal, state, and local housing policy can provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate about complex issues with the public. By monitoring news coverage, advocates can piggyback off national and state stories about housing to highlight housing issues specific to their region or city. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Minneapolis URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-minneapolis/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 597 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Minneapolis focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Minneapolis news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in the Star Tribune, a key local outlet, between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that the Star Tribune published 14,200 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Only 209 articles focused on housing, representing 1.5% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive; in other words, one article could reference multiple housing issues. Over half of those housing stories (121 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The majority of stories from the Star Tribune were about affordable housing (93 articles) and homelessness (79 articles), while other housing issues were less visible. Advocates could pitch stories that build on this attention but expand the frame to show how other housing issues are interconnected, and how they all affect health outcomes. News about housing peaked in July 2020 due to articles about local controversies related to encampments for people experiencing homelessness: many of these stories focused on, for example, the establishment of encampments, concerns about perceived public safety issues, or reactions to the forcible clearing of encampments. By monitoring housing news, advocates can piggyback off such increases in coverage to highlight the specific issues related to housing and homelessness they are working on. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in New Orleans URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-new-orleans/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 594 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from New Orleans focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in New Orleans news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in The Advocate, a key local outlet, between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that The Advocate published 22,449 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Only 89 articles focused on housing, representing 0.4% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive; in other words, one article could reference multiple housing issues. Less than half of those housing stories (36 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The majority of stories from The Advocate were about affordable housing (39 articles) or homelessness (35 articles), while other housing issues were less visible. Advocates could pitch stories that build on this attention but expand the frame to show how housing issues are interconnected, and how they all affect health outcomes. Articles about housing peaked in June 2020, many focused on a predicted wave of upcoming evictions. We also observed small peaks in coverage in January 2021, February 2021, and April 2021 due to reporting on homelessness and mental health issues related to housing insecurity. By monitoring housing news, advocates can piggyback off such increases in coverage to highlight the specific issues related to housing and homelessness they are working on. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in New York City URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-new-york-city/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 690 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from New York City focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in New York City news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in The New York Times, a key local outlet,* between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that The New York Times published 94,459 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021; 20,725 of those were local news articles specific to New York City and the five boroughs. Only 396 of these articles focused on housing, representing 1.9% of local news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive; in other words, one article could reference multiple housing issues. Nearly three-quarters of housing stories (276 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The majority of stories from The New York Times were about affordable housing (185 articles) or homelessness (156 articles), while other housing issues were less visible. Advocates could pitch stories that build on this attention but expand the frame to show how housing issues are interconnected, and how they all affect health outcomes. News about housing peaked in September 2020, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered an eviction moratorium, and again in February 2021 due to controversies surrounding homelessness (e.g., new subway rules due to increased crimes) and upcoming mayoral elections. Changes in housing policy, or local controversies related to housing, provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate about complex issues with the public. By monitoring housing news, advocates can piggyback off such increases in coverage to highlight the specific issues related to housing and homelessness they are working on. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. *While The New York Times covers local news and events, the outlet is among the top five outlets circulated nationally and includes national and international coverage. For this analysis, we only included stories that mentioned “New York City” or any of the city’s five boroughs. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Oakland URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-oakland/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 595 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Oakland focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Oakland news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in the East Bay Times, a key local outlet, between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that the East Bay Times published 35,603 news articles between June 1, 2020 – May 31, 2021. Only 252 articles focused on housing, representing 0.7% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive; in other words, one article could reference multiple housing issues. About two-thirds of those housing stories (170 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The majority of stories from the East Bay Times were about homelessness (173 articles), while other housing issues were less visible. Advocates could pitch stories that build on the paper’s attention to homelessness but expand the frame to show how diverse housing issues are interconnected, and how they all affect health outcomes. News about housing peaked in April 2021 when the state of California announced funding for housing and rent relief. Changes in federal, state, and local housing policy can provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate about complex issues with the public. By monitoring news coverage, advocates can piggyback off national and state stories about housing to highlight housing issues specific to their region or city. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Philadelphia URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-philadelphia/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 603 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Philadelphia focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Philadelphia news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, a key local outlet, between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that The Philadelphia Inquirer published 19,808 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Only 252 articles focused on housing, representing 1.3% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive; in other words, one article could reference multiple housing issues. Nearly three-quarters housing stories (184 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The majority of stories from the Inquirer were about homelessness (95 articles) or affordable housing (93 articles). The Inquirer was unique in that articles about tenant protections also regularly appeared (87 articles). Advocates can take advantage of the existing foundation of diverse housing coverage in The Inquirer to pitch stories that highlight deeper intersections between different kinds of housing issues and how they all affect health. News about housing peaked in September 2020, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered an eviction moratorium. Changes in federal, state, or local housing policy can provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate about complex issues with the public. By monitoring news coverage, advocates can piggyback on national and state stories about housing to highlight housing issues specific to their region or city. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Phoenix URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-phoenix/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 596 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Phoenix focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Phoenix news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in The Arizona Republic, a key local outlet, between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that The Arizona Republic published 21,200 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Only 164 articles focused on housing, representing 0.8% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive; in other words, one article could reference multiple housing issues. Three-quarters of those housing stories (123 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The majority of stories from The Arizona Republic were about homelessness (77 articles) and affordable housing (70 articles), while other housing issues were less visible. Advocates could pitch stories that build on this attention but expand the frame to show how other housing issues are interconnected, and how they all affect health outcomes. News about housing peaked in December 2020 when the Centers for Disease Control ordered an extension of the federal eviction moratorium. These kinds of changes in federal, state, and local housing policy can provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate about complex issues with the public. By monitoring news coverage, advocates can piggyback off national and state stories about housing to highlight housing issues specific to their region or city. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Santa Ana URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-santa-ana/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 609 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Santa Ana focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Santa Ana news, are equity and health part of the conversation? To find out, we used the LexisNexis database to collect articles published in The Orange County Register, a key local outlet, between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 about issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification, and community land trusts. We found that The Orange County Register published 8,224 news articles between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Just 269 articles focused on housing, representing 3.3% of all news in the paper. Because housing issues are themselves interconnected, search terms were not mutually exclusive; in other words, one article could reference multiple housing issues. Half of those housing stories (156 articles) included equity or health-related terms such as “well-being,” “illness,” “disparities,” “low-income,” or “communities of color.” The majority of stories from The Orange County Register were about affordable housing (132 articles) or homelessness (106 articles). Advocates could pitch stories that build on the paper’s attention to these issues, but also expand the frame to show how these and other housing issues are interconnected, and how they all affect health outcomes. News about housing peaked in October 2020 ahead of the 2020 election, during which voters considered and ultimately rejected Proposition 21, which allowed for the expansion of rent control in California. Changes in federal, state, and local housing policy can provide windows of opportunity for advocates to communicate about complex issues with the public. By monitoring news coverage, advocates can piggyback off national and state stories about housing to highlight housing issues specific to their region or city. BMSG is continuing to analyze news coverage to inform local media advocacy campaigns to create healthy communities where anyone, regardless of what they look like or where they come from, can live in safe and stable housing. To learn more about BMSG’s work on framing analysis and media advocacy for public health and social justice issues, visit BMSG.org. Methods: Our research was informed by a survey of grantees funded by the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity Through Housing (HEH) initiative. Grantees are working across housing issues including affordable housing, homelessness, tenant protections, gentrification and displacement, and community land trusts. We used the LexisNexis archive to collect news articles from one of the highest circulation news outlets in each grantee’s media market (N = 22 outlets): We used search terms related to equity or health (such as “health,” “disease,” “illness,” “equity,” “disparity,” “low-income,” “racism,” etc.) as well as the specific housing issues named in the survey. --- ## Communicating for change: News about housing, equity, and health in Seattle URL: https://www.bmsg.org/resources/publications/communicating-for-change-news-about-housing-equity-and-health-in-seattle/ Type: publications Modified: 2025-01-14 Words: 618 > Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors... Our health depends on having stable, safe housing — but inequitable and unjust housing policies limit access to this vital resource for many people in our communities based on factors like race, immigration status, disability status, income-level, gender, and sexuality. The public and policymakers need to understand that housing is a public health issue and that by changing housing policy we can improve community health. News coverage is a key driver of public conversations about health and social justice issues: It influences not only whether people think about housing, but also how they think about it and what they think should be done. As part of a larger framing analysis for Kresge’s Housing and Health Equity grantees, researchers from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) are exploring questions like: How often does news from Seattle focus on housing? Which housing issues are most often covered? And when housing appears in Seattle news, are equity and health pa