Clinic Consortia Media Advocacy Capacity: Partnering with the Media and Increasing Policymaker Awareness

Abstract

Media advocacy is a popular means of crafting and disseminating messages broadly and has been used by advocates to increase policymaker and public awareness of key health policy issues, such as the large number of uninsured. Some media advocacy activities are more effective than others, however, requiring increased sensitivity to the media environment and adequate resources and expertise. This article describes the results of media advocacy activities undertaken by 19 clinic consortia funded under The California Endowment's Clinic Consortia Policy and Advocacy Program from 2002 to 2006. The consortia used different media advocacy strategies and venues, including newspaper, television, radio, video, brochures, newsletters, and websites. The findings indicate that consortia may have influenced the media agenda and increased the likelihood of securing coverage of key issues, such as the role of clinics in supporting the health care safety net. There is evidence that suggests that clinic consortia media advocacy activities, such as front-page coverage in local and major daily newspapers, increased public and policymaker awareness of key clinic policy issues. Although grantees rated media advocacy overall as less effective than other advocacy activities and few reported that it had directly achieved a policy change or increased funding to clinics, nearly all thought it was effective in increasing policymaker awareness. We conclude that media advocacy is a useful tool for partnering with the media and increasing stakeholder awareness more broadly, but it should not be solely relied upon to achieve a policy change.

Using media to impact health policy-making: an integrative systematic review

“…Media advocacy including-Framing and releasing of news releases, letters to the editor, press releases-Wide press coverage of nursing students protests-Media interviewsDate: 3-month period following January 21, 2000Level: provinceType of media: print mediaOrganizer: nursing stakeholdersStudy designQualitative media analysis:Data sources:- The print media sources included articles, editorials, and letters to the editor from The Leader-Post, the daily newspaper in Saskatchewan’s provincial capital Regina.Outcome- Change in government policyHarwood 2005 [44]Study settingHealth topic: Alcohol controlState of LA, USAPopulationTarget of media intervention: policymakers and the general publicCharacteristics of the media interventionMedia advocacy was an integral component of the coalitions’ work as they sought to affect public and legislative awareness and opinions about underage drinking issues. Some examples include solicited media coverage of rallies at the state capital, community information meetings, youth-lead community activities, and media interviews with coalition members for feature stories on underage drinking.Date: 1997–2004Level: stateType of media: print media (newspapers)Organizer: coalitions by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to reduce underage drinkingStudy designQuantitative designData sources:- Media data- Legislative dataOutcome- Passage of alcohol billsGardner 2010 [42]Study settingHealth topic: Access to health careState of CA, USAPopulationTarget of media intervention: policymakers and the general publicCharacteristics of the media interventionMedia advocacy activities including a combination of strategies:-launching websites-creating videos (some videos described the role of primary care clinics in specific regions of the state that were distributed to television stations and other venues)-developing articles and letters to the editors for local and statewide newspapers-working with local radio and television outlets-television and radio interviews-developing member clinic capacity to conduct media outreachDate: the fund started in 2001 for 3 years and was renewed in 2004 and 2007Level: stateType of media: print media (newspaper, brochures, newsletters), broadcast media (television, radio, video), electronic media (websites) Organizer: Clinics ConsortiaStudy designQuantitative and qualitative methodData sources:-Annual Policy Advocacy Activities Worksheet-Annual Grantee Interviews-Policy Maker and Community Leader Awareness Survey-Media Representative and Consultant InterviewsOutcomeEffectiveness of media advocacy activities (increasing policymakers awareness, achieving a policy change or increased funding to clinics)Gowda 2008 [43]Study settingHealth topic: water fluoridationNorthland, New ZealandPopulationTarget of media intervention: the general public and policymakersCharacter...…”

“…The designs of the 10 evaluation studies wereQuantitative ( n  = 7): before and after design ( n  = 2) [47, 48], event history analysis ( n  = 1) [45], media and document analysis ( n  = 1) [44], and cross-sectional survey ( n  = 3) [42, 43, 46]. Two of those studies included qualitative components that were not relevant to our question [42, 43].…”

“…Two of those studies included qualitative components that were not relevant to our question [42, 43]. …”

“…One study targeted policymakers only [41], three targeted the public only [46–48], and six targeted both [42–45, 49, 50]. …”

Analysis of Media Coverage on Breastfeeding Policy in Washington State

“…20,23,27,28 Likewise, the sources of information in the media and the manner in which messages about breastfeeding are framed may ultimately influence policy decisions on breastfeeding by altering the beliefs of politicians and other policy actors 15,25,26,[29][30][31] who often heavily rely on the media for information. 32,33 Public discourse about health is highly influenced by the media, 16 and although media analysis research has been conducted in other areas of health, 24,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45] few studies have analyzed the manner in which breastfeeding policies have been framed in the media and the sources of these frames.…”